Amy, Sarah and Sky go up against some aliens.

See, it didn't take me quite as long to finish this chapter. To be honest, I found it rather hard to write, likely because it has a lot of 'action' and I don't feel like that is quite my forte. Anyway, you have to thank my dear friend BookAndCatLady for this chapter because she kept badgering me to finish it so she could read it. So, thank you for that, I'm glad I listened xD
Because I like regular updates, I will try to get new chaptes up ever other week from now on, but again, no promises.

There's not a lot of fluff in this chapter but I hope you still enjoy it!

Amy didn't bother to hide her curiosity when Sarah began to carefully study her watch.

'What do we have?'

'It would seem we are dealing with some sort of parasitic species that feasts on negative thoughts, especially of self doubt and criticism.'

Amy scoffed. 'Well, they're certainly in the right place here, it's a fashion house - no one's ever skinny enough, pretty enough, you know how it is.' She shrugged and Sarah nodded.

'I remember. Before I started travelling the Universe, I even cared.'

'But you've just seen so many strange species that trying to look en vogue seems so...insignificant.'

At that, Sarah couldn't suppress an amused snort. 'I'd spent so much time away from earth that I completely lost sight of what was wearable - I mean, you know his fashion sense, and it was even worse back then. I went from sensible suits to this hideous red Andy Pandy jumpsuit - with stars on the pocket.' She shuddered at her past fashion choices - the Doctor's influence, even still visible now if you knew him back then, although in a much more subtle way - and then glanced at her daughter. 'I wouldn't even let Sky leave the house in something like that.'

That, finally, made Amy laugh out loud. 'Thank goodness that Rory at least tells me when he doesn't like something - but have you seen the TARDIS now? It's got a glass floor, that's annoying, trust me!'

For a moment, Sarah had to think about that but once the implication of Amy's words sank in, she, too, had to fight back her laughter.

'He really doesn't think things through - oh!'

Before their reminiscing could go any further, Sarah's watch once again beeped and she glanced down, Amy leaning over to get a glimpse as well.

'Now that is a useful watch,' she said decidedly and gave a nod. 'Anywhere you can shop for them?'

'Either a 43rd century black market or the TARDIS lab,' Sarah answered drily while skimming over the information her watch was providing.

For a moment, Amy looked startled, then a grin slowly spread across her face. 'I'm sure River could get me one of those. Having a time traveling daughter has to have some perks.'

'I'm sure she could get you one. Or make you one the next time she's in the TARDIS.'

'True. Anyway, we're getting off-topic. What's it saying?'

'Amnora. Brain Parasites latching onto emotions, tend to strengthen negative energy within their host. I suppose they're on earth because we're attractive to them.'

'Doesn't surprise me, I mean, we start doubting ourselves really fast, don't we?'

'We do,' Sarah agreed but the crease on her forehead didn't lighten.

Amy eyed her curiously as she flicked through the data on her watch. 'What's wrong?'

'I'm not certain,' Sarah admitted, 'but look at these.' She indicated a number on the display. 'That's the residue energy level from whatever alien energy was present here. Parasitic species like the Amnora should have numbers, well, less than half that.'

'So there's either a lot of them here or…'

'Or whatever they're doing here is bigger than just using humans as hosts.'

'Wouldn't be the first time either, aliens like to invade earth.'

Chuckling, Sarah rolled her eyes. 'Tell me about it. There's been alien invasions aplenty, and I can only attest for the last, oh, forty years or so. So we're not even counting all the ones that happened in the millenia before.'

'You ever had to deal with one of those?' Amy asked, intrigued by the resigned tone in Sarah's voice. She just shrugged.

'I met the last Gorgon a few years ago - also parasites that need hosts to live...oh.' Her eyes widened.

'What? You know why these Amnoras are here?' She would have to ask about the Gorgon story again later, that sounded intriguing, but right now, Amy decided, dealing with the aliens that were actually here was more important.

'Maybe,' Sarah said slowly. 'I should think so, yes. The Gorgons, the ones that crashed here, they needed a human host to survive but because they couldn't look at anyone without turning them into stone, they had formed a whole cult around themselves. The last one that had survived controlled a whole coven with nuns by taking their free will. They tried to open a portal to their homeworld that would allow them to cross over here and use humans as hosts. In return, the hosts would have almost infinite lifespans -' Without missing a beat, Sarah pulled her phone from her pocket and speed dialed her home number.

'Mr Smith,' she started, 'please send me everything you can find on the "Amnora" and send it over, please. Thank you.' She glanced over at Amy, who still had Sky propped up on her hip. 'Do you want me to take her?'

Amy shook her head and glanced at the child whose hands were curled tightly into her jacket. 'I think we're good.'

'Good. Now, where's the head office?'

'That way.' Amy nodded down one of the hallways and with one look at each other, they made their way towards the door at its end.

'Do you hear that?' They were halfway down the corridor when the humming had started, almost like a very loud fridge, and Amy glanced over at Sarah. She only received an absent nod in response as Sarah was intently focused on her watch.

Mr Smith was already sending information over but even more concerning than that were the numbers indicating residue energy levels that were climbing higher and higher.

'Whatever they're planning they're doing it from inside that office,' she stated thoughtfully.

'Then we shouldn't barge in like this - come on.'

Instead of continuing down towards the door that held the magazine's head office, Amy lead them through around another corner past an open office with a good dozen empty desks and finally through a door at the end of another equally empty hall. When she saw where Amy had brought them, Sarah couldn't help but give her a proud smile.

'Good thinking,' she praised with a grin that Amy returned. With a click of the mouse, the monitores flickered to life and the security video of the empty office appeared on the screens. Not hesitating, Sarah sat in front of the middle one and started to click through the pictures in search for one that actually held people.

Amy sat down in the chair next to her, Sky on her lap, and swiveled the chair around so they were facing Sarah. 'I don't know about you, but I'd rather not get mind controlled by walking into a conspiracy of brain parasite aliens.'

'If they could control you, I think they'd have already done it.' Without a warning, Sarah turned to Amy and held up her watch to conduct a scan on her. After a few seconds, the watch beeped and Sarah gave a satisfied nod. 'Just like I thought.' Upon noticing Amy's curious look, she elaborated, 'You grew a time lord - or something alike, at least. Foetal DNA gets into the mother's bloodstream and in your case, it minimally altered your DNA for a better chance at survival.'

'I got time lord DNA in my?!' The look on Amy's face was a mixture of utterly horrified and delightfully intrigued and it would have been quite amusing had the situation not been as tense.

'You're still very much human, Amy,' Sarah soothed her. 'It's just enough to strengthen your human body and make you more resilient - which makes controlling your mind much harder.'

'How do you know all of that?'

Sarah gave a nonchalant shrug and turned back towards the screens. 'I did some research. There's different reasons for me but the result is pretty much the same.'

'Oh.' The more she learned about Sarah Jane, the more confusing the woman got and Amy made another mental note to definitely ask her daughter about her. Surely, if she travelled with the Doctor, River would know a thing or two about her. Still, Amy couldn't help but find her quite likable; it was nice to have someone else who could relate to travels with the Doctor and then real life back on earth.

Something caught her eye and she stopped her train of thought to point at the monitor. 'There! What's that machine?'

'I have no idea,' Sarah admitted. 'I've never seen anything like it before. But if I were to guess, I'd wager it's something like an amplifier.'

'For the mind control?'

'I suppose so, yes.'

'Makes sense,' Amy said with a thoughtful nod. 'Maybe they can imprint images with a compulsion or something and that'd make people easier to control?'

Sarah's eyes widened as she beamed at her new friend. 'That's brilliant, Amy; you're brilliant! That's exactly what it is!

'It is?'

'Yes! Why else would they be at a fashion house, a fashion magazine? Looking at pretty pictures in one makes people doubt themselves and that creates negative energy -'

'- Which is exactly what the Amnora feed off.' For a moment, both women paused, eyeing each other with wide eyed surprise at having reached the same conclusion so fast. It was Amy who then broke the silence. 'So that's what that machine in the head office does?'

'Well,' Sarah said slowly, 'it does look a lot like a very high tech printing press.'

'I've never seen one of those...nevermind. How do we stop it?'

Instead of giving an answer, Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled her sonic lipstick out. With a smirk, she handed it to Amy. 'Sonicing it should do the trick.'

'I've seen a sonic screwdriver and a sonic drovel, but a sonic lipstick has way more style,' Amy said as she inspected it with interest. Sarah shrugged and pulled Sky over onto her own lap.

'You can do the honours, if you like. But there's something else we have to do first.'

'Find out where everyone has disappeared to,' Amy realised and upon Sarah's nod, they both turned back to the monitores in hopes to find the answers they were looking for there.

They didn't have to search for long; only moments later they came across the camera connected to the roof and found all the employees of the magazine, and surely several from other offices in the building, standing in big circles on the roof.

'What are they doing up there?' The two women frowned at each other.

'Only one way to find out,' Amy said after a moment, frown morphing into a wide grin as she stood and held out a hand to Sarah. 'Let's have a look.'

Propping Sky up properly on her hip, Sarah allowed Amy to pull her onto her feet and together, they made their way towards the elevator. It didn't work.

Sarah huffed. 'Of course it won't, it's all the energy, it's interfering with the electricity in the other parts of the building.'

'Might be better to take the stairs anyway - easier to run away when you're not stuck in a tiny box.' It sounded like experience speaking there, an inclination Sarah only shared, so together, they slipped into the stairwell and took the stairs to the roof. Luckily, they already were on the fifteenth of eighteen floors, so it was neither terribly exhausting nor did it take very long.

None of the people on the roof seemed to notice them when they silently joined into the big circles in complete silence - that was, until Sky, able to feel the tense energy in the air, buried her face in the crook of her mother's neck and started to cry. Immediately, Sarah's hand went up to rub her back and quietly soothe her but it was to no avail, her daughter wouldn't stop crying.

'uh-oh - watch out!' was all the warning Sarah got from Amy and when her eyes snapped up, away from Sky in her arms, it was already too late.

Just because the Amnora were unable to take up residence in Amy's and Sarah's minds, that did not mean that they weren't able to still attack - and hurt - them. Unprepared to defend her mind, Sarah doubled over in pain at the sudden onslaught. Poor Amy wasn't faring any better - quite the opposite; she had never had found herself in a similar position and had therefore been unable to defend herself at all.

It took Sarah a moment to force her eyes open and feel her body again, the pressure on her mind gone suddenly.

And so was the soft weight in her arms.

'Sky?!' Panic spread through her like wildfire and she frantically scanned her surroundings to see if she could find her daughter anywhere. 'Sky, where are you?'

A groan came from the ground next to her and she dropped on her knees next to Amy, gently pulling her head into her lap. 'Amy, wake up. Careful - are you alright?' She helped Amy, who was clutching her aching head, to sit up and wait until her vision cleared fully.

'What happened?' she wanted to know once she realised that they were alone on the roof.

Sarah shrugged, her eyes full of worry and guilt. 'You fainted. I nearly did too. While we were distracted, they left.' She swallowed. 'They took Sky.' It was her fault, and Sarah cursed herself for it. What had she been thinking, taking her daughter on an alien hunt? Nevermind that they hadn't had any intention of getting involved with any aliens at all today; it was meant to be merely an interview she was doing for her real job.

Amy gaped at her. 'What?! Why would they take her, she's a child -'

'She's leverage,' Sarah interrupted, her voice deadly cold. It sounded as familiar as the expression on her face looked, the moment when everything faded and all that was left was being a mother without her child. Amy swallowed and reached over to squeeze her hand.

'We'll get her back.' It might have been too late for Melody, but Sky still had a chance to be returned to her mother - and a good one, if Amy had any say in it. There was no answer from Sarah, but she did incline her head in acknowledgement of her statement before she pushed herself back up onto her feet and started marching straight towards the door that led back inside the building.

Despite being a fair bit taller than Sarah Jane, Amy found herself having to scramble up and almost run to catch up with her, already a whole flight of stairs down. As they rushed down to the floor where Amy's office, and therefore very likely also the Amnora, were, Amy threw her a careful glance.

Sarah's face was guarded and hard set; there was no question that she wouldn't stop at anything to get her daughter back. A sentiment Amy understood only too well.

'When we go in,' Sarah suddenly spoke up, interrupting the silence hanging tense between them, 'I will distract them and get Sky back. You still have the sonic?'

Amy patted her pocket. 'I do.'

'Good. Use it on the printer - make sure the damage you do is irreparable.'

'Wrecking havoc while they're not looking, that shouldn't be too hard,' Amy answered, trying and failing to give Sarah an encouraging smile. Sarah just nodded, her eyes fixed on the door that would lead to the magazine's office space.

'When you're done, or if anything goes wrong, you go with plan B.'

'Run.'

'Yes.' It hadn't been a question but she got an answer nonetheless and then, without further ado, Sarah pushed open the door and they slipped inside.

Just like before, everything was empty. It was, however, not silent. There was a rustling, the quiet whisper of many overlapping voices, floating through the rooms and the closer they got to the head office, the louder it got.

When they were just a few steps from the door, a new sound became audible, the desperately sad, quiet cries of a scared child. Sarah felt her heart clench and her eyes narrowed.

She might have become a pacifist over the years, but no one touched her children and no one took her daughter from her.

Without hesitating any longer, she reached for the doorknob - only to find her hand stopped by Amy. She didn't even flinch at the glare Sarah shot her, just leaned down to quietly whisper, 'Give me thirty seconds to get to the other side. I've just remembered there's a back door to a storage room. I'll come through there.' Sensing Sarah's confusion at the change of plan, she shrugged. 'I forgot about it, it's never used. They won't see me coming then.'

It still wasn't much of a plan, but it was a better one than they had before - and they had both winged situations with even less before - so Sarah gave her a nod. 'But hurry.'

'Thirty seconds.'

She turned and ran down the corridor, around a corner and out of Sarah's side, so she returned her attention to the door and started to count.

Waiting to go in was torture, she didn't know what they were doing to Sky and the fear for her daughter was overwhelming. The moment Amy's thirty seconds were over, Sarah reached and pushed the door open.

For a few moments, they didn't seem to notice her presence and Sarah was sure they wouldn't have for a few more moments had it not been for Sky. Her daughter seemed to have sensed her immediately and upon seeing her, her sobs quieted and she made grabby hands in her direction.

'Ma-ma!' she wailed and suddenly, all eyes were on Sarah Jane. Well, she thought sarcastically, at least no one could claim their distraction didn't work.

The woman who was holding Sky looked at Sarah in surprise before all hell broke loose as everyone started to talk at the same time. It was no language Sarah was familiar with and it didn't sound like the human vocal system was made for it; most likely the Amnora tended to speak it amongst themselves, which right now, they weren't.

Sarah didn't care much, she simply stalked towards the woman clutching her daughter tight. She was barely two more steps from them when the rustling whispers stopped and two other Amnora possessed women pushed her back.

'Stop,' they commanded, but Sarah shrugged their hands off and raised her chin in defiance.

'What do you want with my daughter?' She asked coldly. 'What do you want with this planet?'

'There is much potential for us to grow here,' the woman on the left said. She would have been very pretty, Sarah noted idly, had her face not been twisted by the Amnora forcing her to speak. 'We like it here. More of us will come. Humans make good hosts.'

'Humans are not hosts for anything or anyone!'

'Humans are hosts for many things.' The other woman spoke now. 'We are just one more. We do not kill. We do not harm. We merely feed on what is already there.'

And you accelerate it to make sure there's plenty for you to feed on, Sarah thought but she didn't voice it. Instead, she nodded at Sky.

'If you don't harm, then what do you want with my daughter?'

'She has the spark. She will power the press for us. She will ensure we have enough sustenance.'

'She's a child! If I hadn't been here today, you wouldn't even have known to use her, so why now?'

'Plans change, Ms Smith.' Sarah whipped around at the sound of a new voice behind her. Another woman stepped forth, not surprising considering that this was a fashion magazine and she had not spotted many men so far. She was tall, perhaps even taller than Amy, and it was obvious that she - or at least her possessed form - was a figure of authority. Her eyes, almost black from the Amnora invading her mind, sparkled dangerously at Sarah. 'Without your daughter, we would have to choose: Power the press or call our kin here to this marvelous little planet full of delicacies? But with her, we can have it all.'

'Yeah...I don't think so.' Once again, all heads turned to the intruder - Amy. She grinned widely as she held up several cables of the press. It looked very alien, but in her experience even those things stopped working when you pulled some of the connections. And if it didn't work this time, well. She still had the sonic.

'Let go of that!' The tall woman exclaimed and took a step towards Amy, only to freeze when Amy moved to pull on yet another plug.

'Mhm, no, I don't think so. You see, I don't like it when you take kids for your maniac plans. And I really liked the people here - so nope, I'll not let go. But I think I'll do this.'

Sparks flew when Amy used the sonic, pointing it at not only the cables and wires she was holding up but also the buttons and switches on top of the machine. Apparently, whatever the press really was had been connected to the Amnora, for all the people in the room were suddenly moaning and screeching, clutching their heads much like Sarah and Amy had earlier.

With a single, fluent movement, Sarah stepped forth and plucked her daughter from the other woman's arms. 'Thank you,' she said coldly but she got no response as this woman, too, doubled over in pain.

Before turning around to join Amy, Sarah took a moment to check Sky over, but she seemed to be physically unharmed. Terrified certainly, and perhaps even a little traumatised by the way she was clinging to her mother, but that, Sarah was certain of, they could deal with. Once she was sure that Sky would be alright, she wove her way through the possessed people and to Amy.

'She alright?' Amy asked, nodding at Sky.

'Seems like it. Any idea what caused this?' Sarah pointed her chin at the room. By now, the screeching and the moans had subsided and the people either stood frozen and unmoving or had crumbled on the floor, probably unconscious.

'Maybe the press thingy here is connected to the Amnora?' Amy mused, but Sarah slowly shook her head.

'No, that's not it. I checked with Mr Smith, they travel in pods - they must have used the pod they came in to build the press and power it.'

Ignoring Amy's questions, Sarah shifted Sky onto her left hip and crouched down. 'Sonic?' Wordlessly, Amy handed it to her, watching with curiosity as Sarah removed part of the casing.

'Would you look at that.' And there it was indeed, an oval, shiny pod about the size of a basketball, hooked up to the press with a number of wires.

'How'd you know it'd be there?' Amy wanted to know, eyes darting back and forth between Sarah and the pod.

Sarah shrugged. 'Lucky guess?'

It had been, but only because it was the only thing that made sense.

'They said they wanted to call more of them -' Amy's musings pulled Sarah from her thoughts, '- so if we reverse the setting, shouldn't it suck them in again? And then we can just...send them back home?'

'No!' The tall woman from before came stumbling towards them, clearly desperate to stop what they were intending to do, but it was already too late. Amy had plucked the sonic lipstick from Sarah, switched to the reverse setting and pointed it at the pod. Sarah let her, only barely managing to scamper out of the way with Sky pressed to her chest as the first of the Amnora were sucked back into their travelling pod.

'Stop it, give that to me, reverse it - ' The tall woman was screeching at Amy, trying to wrangle the sonic from her hands but the Amnora possessing her was already losing its hold and her movements became more and more sluggish by the second.

Then, all of a sudden, she stopped, her eyes glazed over and she, like all the other people in the office, crumbled to the floor. Amy reached out to slow her fall, then turned to Sarah, who was still holding Sky protectively close, gently covering her head.

'Are you okay?'

'I think so. You?'

'Fine. What about them?' She nodded at the dozens of people crowded inside the office.

'They shouldn't remember anything when they wake 'll be an article out tomorrow about a gas leak, not dangerous, that made the people in the building fall asleep for a few hours. You think that'll do?'

'I think so, yes.' Amy squinted at Sarah, a smile tucking on her lips. 'Is that what you do, then? Deal with aliens and then make sure that everyone thinks it's harmless things like gas leaks?'

'Earth isn't ready yet for aliens. Not after the last few big public encounters.'

'You were involved in those too?'

'Quite a few people who used to run with the Doctor were. Nevermind that now. I think we should get out of here before they wake up. I'll make a call to a friend just in case - and we should probably take that.' She nodded at the pod, which Amy diligently picked up since Sarah's own arms were full of toddler. It was surprisingly light, she thought, and then smiled at Sarah to lead the way.

'What are you going to do with it?'

'Send it back home?' Sarah shrugged. 'We can't exactly keep it on earth.'

Amy's eyes went wide. 'You can send things back?'

'Well,' Sarah said slowly, 'I can send things back into space and set them on the right course. For some, I care that they make it home, for others...not so much.' Clearly, them trying to use Sky, her baby, for their plans was not something she could forgive quite yet. She would, perhaps, in time, but for now, she still needed to have Sky checked out properly before she could find her peace of mind again. 'Would you like to come?'

And that was how Amy had found herself joining Sarah as they drove back to Ealing, and then following her up to the attic of Bannerman Road. She diligently marveled at Mr Smith and the whole attic, which, she admitted with wide eyes, was almost as impressive as the TARDIS herself. Especially considering that it was 'just' an attic in a 'normal' house in a nice neighborhood in Ealing, London, belonging to a perfectly extraordinarily normal lady.

'You can call anytime you like, Amy,' Sarah told her new friend when it was time for her to leave - after all, she did have Rory waiting for her to tell her all about her interview. Oh, he wouldn't believe what she was going to tell him! 'Even if it's to talk - or I can get you in touch with some of the other people I know who travelled with the Doctor. You have Rory, I know, but it can still be lonely sometimes when you can't tell anyone what you've seen out there.'

'I know.' Amy nodded. 'I've felt like that sometimes. I'll call you - I mean, Rory has to meet you, and maybe River too! You haven't met her yet, have you? Anyway, I'll call - and Sarah Jane?'

'Yes?'

'Thank you.'

'No, Amy, thank you.' They hugged, a little awkwardly but genuine, and then Amy was off and Sarah and Sky were alone again, standing at the front door looking after her. Sky was still waving at her car and only let her hand fall onto her mother's shoulder when the car was no longer visible.

'Come on, poppet,' Sarah said and gently tapped her daughter's nose. 'Let's have Mr Smith give you a check up and then how about a bath, some dinner and then a nice, long bedtime story?'

Sky didn't answer, but she curled her little fists into Sarah's shirt and let her head drop onto her shoulder, tired from the long, exhausting afternoon they both had had.

Sarah rarely minded cuddles from her daughter and tonight, she was more than willing to indulge her clinginess. Considering that she was barely more than a year old, Sarah doubted that Sky would remember much, if anything at all, of today; in a few days time, it would be nothing more than a faint nightmare for her.

But for Sarah, the terrifying moments would forever be burned into her memory. She had rarely felt so angry and desperate - not even when Luke was in danger. But Luke had always been a teenager and therefore never entirely helpless, unlike his sister who as little more than a baby was absolutely defenseless.

So far, the alien threats that had needed her physical presence had been few and she always managed to find a babysitter for Sky. But now, she found herself wondering if she would be able to take Sky anywhere again; after all, today was supposed to be just a normal interview. Either way, she needed to find a solution for that until Sky was old enough to go to daycare.

For tonight, however, Sarah allowed herself to let go of those thoughts and focus on her sweet little girl, curled up in her arms, fast asleep. Despite the horrors of the day, holding onto each other that night, they both slept wonderfully.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next up: lots of fluff!