Sarah and Sky go on a holiday.
Did I say two weeks? Yes, sorry about that. I had most of this chapter already written and then life happened. Alas, it's here now, nothing but fluff to brighten the dreary month of November. Since it's NaNo month though, I'm hoping I might get a few chapters backed up, but we'll see. For now, enjoy! As so often, thank you BookAndCatLady for looking over everything!
When she had gotten the offer, Sarah hadn't really known what to make of it. She didn't even remember the last time she had been on a real holiday - with Luke, it had mostly been short trips to show him England before he was off again with Maria, Rani and Clyde.
This summer though, it all came together without her even trying.
Luke was off with Sanjay at his parents' place in Brighton. Rani was up north with her parents visiting family, Maria had used a transmat beam (after all, why spend money on a plane ticket when you had a much quicker, easier option that also minimised any jetlags?) to go see her dad in America for a few weeks and Clyde was in Germany seeing his father. Which left her and Sky alone for a total of sixteen days, which would be unbearable in the summer heat.
Then, a week ago, she had run into an old friend and colleague from way back before she joined Planet 3, and they got talking. When she mentioned being stuck in the city, he had, out of nowhere, offered her his house in France. Apparently, his own grown children liked to spend the summer there but with his daughter not far from her due date with his latest grandchild and his son overseas with friends, the house would be empty for the majority of the summer.
At first, Sarah hadn't even considered it. It was awfully short notice, after all. But then it was so awfully hot and Sky was grouchy all the time and there was very little work to do besides, so getting away for a little while sounded heavenly.
Luke had left two days ago and now, after hashing out the details with her former colleague, it was decided that she and Sky would catch a plane in two days and enjoy France for ten days. That way, they'd be back home a few days before Luke, which hopefully would allow her to do all their laundry and unpack everything. Before she settled into life in Ealing, Sarah had travelled enough to know that this always took a few days - and that had just been herself; with two children, things would most certainly be worse.
The last time Sarah had been on a plane, it had been the one that brought her back from the fateful trip to Nevada. Nat had been with her then, but Josh had stayed behind. It wasn't a trip she particularly enjoyed thinking about, there were simply too many nightmares connected to it. But even before the Dauntless, none of the trips she had taken had ended particularly well. When she had taken Josh to see Yolanda in Romania, they had nearly been frightened to death, in India things with Hilda Winters had come to a nearly fateful showdown, in Italy Josh had killed someone for her and she had been shot, and she had lost Nat - because after, things had never been the same again. The second trip to Antarctica had been even worse than the already awful first one with the Doctor and well, the less said about Dreamland, the better.
So, all things considered, despite her love for travelling in the past, more recently she had been very much out of luck. Then again, the Crimson Chapter could be credited with all of those disasters and ever since Dreamland, there had been nothing but radio silence on that front.
Perhaps, Sarah thought, this holiday wouldn't be so bad after all. They certainly needed it, and Sky seemed more than excited when Sarah told her they'd go up in a plane.
Getting those tickets last minute had cost a small fortune, but going by train wouldn't have been much cheaper and taken far longer than she wanted for Sky's first trip abroad. Besides, she rarely used any of Aunt Lavinia's money anyway. If she was still alive to see her niece now, she probably would have paid for her to get out of the city herself, children included.
Right now, they were at the airport waiting for their boarding call and Sarah was already exhausted. Sky was sitting in her stroller, taking in the busy airport around her with wide eyes. She had been babbling to herself for a while now, but in between being dropped off by the cab and actually getting to their gate, she had barely stopped crying. Perhaps it was residue from their encounter with the Amnora, perhaps simply a developmental phase but either way, she had been more and more clingy recently and didn't like not having her mother's full attention. Which Sarah was paying her now, since they had arrived in the waiting area.
'Look Sky,' she said and turned the stroller towards the huge glass windows that overlooked the rolling fields, 'those are planes. Remember what I told you about them?'
Sky nodded vigorously, her curls bouncing, and she pointed at one of the planes as she declared, 'Up-up!'
'That's right.' Sarah smiled and brushed her hair from her daughter's face. 'They go all the way up to the sky and take the people inside where they want to go.' She pointed at one plane that was just setting down to land. 'That plane there, that's just coming down. It's been far away and now it's back home.'
Sky seemed fascinated to watch the planes outside, excitedly clapping her hands as she watched on, and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief that she would be able to sort herself out while Sky was occupied.
For this holiday, she had left everything alien behind. Let UNIT and Torchwood do their jobs for once; this was Sky's first holiday and there would be no distractions. She simply hadn't expected to feel quite so...vulnerable, without her sonic lipstick and her watch. But she did, she had come to rely on those things to not only keep the world, but much more importantly her children safe. Still, she was determined to enjoy this trip.
While there were quite a few hurdles to travelling with a toddler - the kind Sarah hadn't actually thought about before - having the stroller had its advantages too. Much more storage space, for one. A cup of peppermint tea, bought at one of the airport shops, was in the cupholder and her handbag was dangling from the handle. With another glance at Sky - who was still engrossed in watching the planes - Sarah fished her phone from her bag and took her cup from the holder as she checked her messages.
There were no emergencies, just the kids wishing them a good trip in their group chat and two pictures from Luke, showing him and Sanjay at the beach and in a small restaurant. It made her smile. Sometimes, it seemed just like yesterday that he was a newborn 14-year old boy, but he had grown so much since then. Barely four years had passed and there he was, off exploring the world on his own.
'Look Sky, that's Luke and Sanjay.' She showed the pictures to Sky, who immediately pressed little hands onto the display as if she could touch Luke that way.
'Luu!' Another new addition to her vocabulary, her sweet version of her brother's name. It made Sarah chuckle.
'Do you want to send him a picture too, of us?' Sky nodded again and Sarah crouched down next to the stroller to see if she could get them both into the picture. Rani had tried to teach her how to take pictures of herself but Sarah seemed to have no talent for it.
'Would you like me to take your picture?' It was a man about her age, just a few seats down, smiling at them. When he saw Sarah's startled look, he shrugged sheepishly. 'I couldn't help but overhear you say you wanted to take a picture. I'd be happy to be of assistance.'
'Oh, well, why, yes. Of course. Thank you.' Usually, it was not at all Sarah's style to get flustered, especially not this easily, but he had caught her off guard. It took a few moments to gather herself but then she gave him a smile and handed him the phone to take a picture. Not needing a proper camera for that still felt odd.
'Here. I took two, I hope you like them.'
'I'm sure they'll be fantastic, thank you.' She smiled at him once more as she took her phone back, quickly checking both and then sending the second picture to Luke.
Just as she was about to turn back to their new acquaintance again to thank him once more, Sky demanded her attention by tucking on her hand. 'Mama, up-up-up!' With her free hand, she waved at a plane outside that was just taking off.
'Yes poppet, that plane is just going up. Like we are, soon.'
As if on cue, their flight was called. With an apologetic look on her face, Sarah turned back to the picture-man. He seemed a little baffled - probably that Sky was her daughter, not granddaughter - but gave her a smile.
'Safe travels, Ma'am. And a nice holiday with the wee one.' He tapped his hat and she couldn't help but return his smile at that. He somehow reminded her of a very dear old friend.
'Thank you. You have a good trip too.'
After that, it was quite the bustle to get on the plane, have the stroller stored away and get Sky settled. Families with small children were called first, so at least they didn't have to stand in the queue for too long, but that still didn't change that travelling with small children was stressful. When they got on the plane, the flight attendants handed out little toys to all the children but Sky was much more interested in what was going on outside. If her current behavior was any indication, she would stay glued to the window until they touched down again in Marseille.
Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case.
The flight itself wasn't too long, not quite two hours, and once they were above the clouds, Sky quickly grew bored with the relatively unchanging landscape.
'Would you like something to eat, Sky?'
'Nana, ma-ma,' she demanded and reached for Sarah's shoulder to steady herself. She had - under protest - sat on her mother's lap during take off but as soon as she was allowed to, she had scrambled onto her feet and clung to the wall to have a better view outside. Now, she was still standing on Sarah's lap, held safe and secure by the hands on her back that kept her from falling.
'I don't have any bananas here, poppet,' Sarah explained but nonetheless reached down towards the diaper bag. 'But how about a fruit pouch?'
They were a somewhat new discovery after one of her friends had shared one with Sky at the park. In no time, they had become a staple in the diaper bag and usually served well when there was no fresh fruit available. There had been breakfast earlier this morning, and Sky'd had some biscuits at the airport, but it seemed Sarah had been right in her suspicion that her daughter would be hungry again soon. Tired too, probably.
The suggestion of a fruit pouch was greeted with wild nodding and Sky flopped down on her mother's lap while Sarah fished one out of the depth of the bag. Honestly, sometimes she thought the Doctor had tinkered with it, considering the amount of things she was carrying around in it.
Smiling, she screwed the little pouch open and handed it to Sky, who immediately started to suckle from it. It didn't take her long to finish and her hands dropped into her lap. She yawned. Of course. It had been an unusually early morning for her too.
Gently, Sarah pulled the empty pouch from Sky's hands to throw away later. Then, she pulled Sky's blanket out from where it had been stuffed into the seat beside her and covered both of them with it.
Immediately, Sky snuggled closer into her mother's chest and within a few minutes, her eyes had drifted close and she was asleep. Sarah followed behind not long after.
When she eventually woke up again, it was to the voice of one of the flight attendants, telling the passengers to prepare for landing. Sarah moved her seat into the correct position and carefully maneuvered Sky around her lap so she was more comfortable. She made a small noise of discontent but didn't wake up, so Sarah wrapped the blanket about her just a little tighter and allowed her eyes to drift out of the window.
It had been a long time since she had been to France, she realised, more than a decade at least - probably when she had still been working for Channel 3 and had been convinced to take a break. Not that she had taken many of those - what would she have done? Back then, she hadn't had anyone - a handful of acquaintances, even fewer friends and no family safe Aunt Lavinia, who was busy with her own life. It was a stark contrast to now, where she had Luke and Sky and quite a number of very dear friends. She glanced down at her daughter, still contently cuddled up in her blanket with her face tucked into her shoulder, and smiled. Sometimes, it was still incredibly hard to believe that all of this was real.
Caught in her thoughts, Sarah missed the majority of the landing process too, and by the time they were rolling over the landing strip, Sky began to stir in her arms again. As always after waking up, she was grumpy and didn't want to let go of her mum, so Sarah was more than glad when they had to stay seated for a while longer and she could keep cuddling her daughter.
Eventually, they did make it not only off the plane but also out of the airport and to the car Sarah had rented. Not quite her Figaro, but a nice one nonetheless, and apparently very safe. They even had installed the car seat for Sky that Sarah had requested.
'This is going to be interesting,' Sarah told her daughter when she strapped her into the seat. 'It's been quite a while since I've last had to drive on the wrong side.'
'Mama go!' was all Sky said in response. Sarah chuckled. Go indeed.
It wasn't as bad as she had expected - probably because once they were out of the city, the streets emptied quickly and there were few other cars to distract her. They found the little town quite easily, and once there, the house was easy enough to find too.
It was, Sarah decided immediately, quite worth the trouble and the expensive plane tickets. It was lovely. Old and lived-in, cosy: light brown stone with white window shutters and a matching door, flowers on all the windowsills and a tidy little front garden.
When they got out of the car, Sarah allowed Sky to toddle about a bit - apart from walking a little on the way to the car earlier, she had been sitting still almost the entire day. She pushed open the gate to the little garden, letting her daughter run where there were no cars seemed like the safest choice.
For a few minutes, Sarah was just content to watch her. Sky seemed delighted by her new surroundings and was walking from flower to flower, genty cradling each of them in her little hands and smelling them one by one. Every time, she 'mhmmmm'-ed and beamed at her mother and Sarah couldn't help but think that agreeing to come here had indeed been a brilliant choice.
It was still warm but nowhere near as pressing as it had been in the city, and there was a gente breeze going all the time.
Ensuring, with one eye, that Sky was still busy and fine, Sarah finally pulled out the key and unlocked the front door.
'Come here, Sky, let's have a look inside!' Sky obeyed immediately and came running over, swaying dangerously a few times. When she reached the steps, she held out her hands for her mother's and Sarah took them, carefully helping her to walk up the steps on her own.
'Mama in?' Sky asked and jumped a little, never letting go of their joined hands. Sarah nodded.
'Yes, we're going in. Do you want to go first?'
Sky nodded vigorously and ran forth and together, they explored their home for the next week. Afterwards, they didn't do very much other than unpack and drive to the supermarket to get groceries.
Their first day in France, they didn't use the car at all. Instead, Sarah packed everything they could possibly need into the stroller and off they went for a long walk around the little town. As it turned out, it was Market day, which Sky seemed to find especially exciting.
'Your daughter is very sweet,' was a comment Sarah got several times from passersbys and merchants alike and it took her a moment to dig out the old school French to understand and reply.
'Mama, nana!' quickly became Sky's favourite thing to say whenever she spotted something yellow - be it a banana or not. They did buy some of the actual bananas though, because they, too, were a current favourite.
By the time they had picked a few souvenirs to take home, it was almost lunchtime. Sarah pushed the stroller away from the busy streets and towards a quieter area with a few restaurants splattered here and there. Sky dozed off almost immediately now that they had left the buzz behind, so Sarah decided to make herself comfortable in one of the little bistros they had passed.
With a nice glass of iced tea and a light lunch, she pulled out her notepad and started to write. Nothing in particular, just notes about the day, her thoughts - it had been a while since she had the time to just write for fun, so she relished in it.
It was early in the evening when they returned to the house, and they found a surprise waiting for them.
'Bonjour, you must be Sarah and Sky!' an elderly lady greeted them with twinkling eyes. Perplexed, Sarah nodded and the woman's smile widened. 'I'm Heloise, from next door. Charlie told me all about you, that you two would come, but I must have missed you yesterday.'
'It's nice to meet you,' Sarah said and propped Sky up on her hip. 'Say hello, poppet.'
Sky bit her lip for a moment, then whispered an almost inaudible 'hi' to their guest before burying her face in her mother's shoulder.
'I'm sorry,' Sarah said with an apologetic smile, 'she's a little shy at the moment.'
Heloise waved her off. 'Don't you worry, I have half a dozen grandchildren, I know how they can be. Why don't you two come over for coffee in the morning?'
And just like that, they had breakfast plans for the morning. Sarah stood at the gate a little longer and chatted with their neighbour but eventually Sky started to squirm and Heloise let them go inside, claiming she needed to get started on supper anyway.
They spent the rest of the evening doing utterly normal things, mostly those that were part of Sky's routine anyway like a nice bath and storytime. And for once, even Sarah found herself relaxing doing all that, which was impossible at home what with all the constant alien invasions she dealt with there. Not that she didn't enjoy it still, but with her little gang of teenagers all grown up now and Sky to take care of as well, there wasn't much time left to simply do nothing. Because there was always something that needed to be done.
She remembered, when she was much younger still, some of her colleagues at the paper saying that since they had children, they found themselves being considered a parent at all times, leaving no room for being a person too.
When she had gotten Luke, she had disagreed. But now with Sky, she was slowly understanding the sentiment. Not that she agreed, but then, it was also a different time. And had someone told her then that she'd be here now, she would have laughed them straight in the face. She wouldn't exchange it for anything in the universe, though.
The next morning, they went next door for brunch. Well. They went over for the agreed upon coffee and found that Heloise had prepared food as well, and it was neither breakfast time anymore nor was it time for lunch yet. So, brunch it was.
It turned out that they needed it because when she heard that they hadn't made any real plans for the day yet, Heloise took over. She kept an eye on Sky while she shooed Sarah over to get their swimming gear - it was such a lovely day, so they would go down to the river.
Which turned out to be yet another wonderful idea because with the summer heat, a refreshing swim was just what they needed. Heloise showed them to her favourite spot, a bit off from where most campers went, and in no time had they spread out the blanket on the ground and were ready to swim.
Sarah had been a little worried that perhaps Sky wouldn't like the water and be afraid - she hadn't even wanted to dip in a toe when they had visited Brighton for a day a few weeks ago - but she needn't have. Sky jumped right in, kept holding on to her mother but she seemed nothing but enthusiastic.
The water was low, with the dry summer they had had so far, so the current wasn't too strong either. On the edge, Sky stood next to Heloise while Sarah had wandered a little further out to where the water hit her knees. Her daughter's voice made her turn around.
'Mama!' Sky called, waving wildly while giggling. Sarah smiled at her.
'What is it, poppet?' She wanted to know but Sky only giggled harder.
'Plash!' she said - a new word, Sarah thought, one she didn't know - and then Sky slapped her hands down on the water, making it splash up. She did it again. 'Plash!' she repeated. That explained that word, too. Splish-Splash.
Wide smile on her face, Sarah waded over to her daughter to praise her properly, but just as she was about to reach down for her, Sky giggled again. 'Plish!' She called and pushed the water around her forward so that it splashed all over Sarah.
For a moment, she stood absolutely silent, too surprised and shocked by the cold water. She really hadn't expected Sky to splash the water at her. It didn't take long for her to recover though, and with a wide smile, she swooped her daughter up and then let herself fall backwards, Sky tucked against her chest, so they were both fully immersed in the river. Sky squealed, first in shock but then in delight.
Sarah didn't let them float too long but rather found her footing again quickly - she didn't want the current to take them too far, even if it wasn't quite as strong as expected. She allowed Sky to splash about a little, keeping ahold of her waist despite the armbands she was wearing just in case. She didn't seem to mind, too excited by this entirely new experience.
Perhaps, Sarah thought and made a mental note, she should look into swimming classes for toddlers when they were back home.
The rest of the day was just as much of a success as the swimming and when the evening was drawing closer, Sky didn't want to leave at all. She wasn't the only one who'd had a great time and Sarah decided that they would spend another day by the river later in the week.
That night, both mother and daughter slept soundly, pleasantly exhausted from their lovely day.
The next few days all passed in a blur. Heloise had told her about quite a few things they could do in the area, things that Sky would enjoy as well.
So they had gone to a little zoo, went on a long, winding walk through the fields not far away, where Heloise had recommended they go because there were so many lovely wildflowers to pick. Sky had taken that to heart and picked dozens, leaving Sarah with a lovely little bouquet and an extra few that they put in between the pages of the books they brought. Pressing flowers. Sarah had almost laughed when she suggested it. Yet another of those things that she never expected she'd do.
They had also visited a stalactite cave, which hadn't been quite such a hit with Sky, who had soon dozed off in her stroller. But Sarah had quite enjoyed it, being in a cave for fun and not because she was trapped.
Heloise had offered to take them to Avignon when she went to see her sister there, so they had spent one day in the city, doing nothing much but enjoying themselves. They had some restaurant recommendations and Heloise and her sister insisted to watch Sky in the afternoon so Sarah had some time for herself.
At first, Sarah hadn't really known what she would do with herself but then Heloise's sister had slipped her a leaflet for a nice SPA and whispered that they did lovely massages. Sarah couldn't even remember when she had last done something like that - probably when Nat had talked her into it years ago. It had been a while.
So, she went. And oh, it was wonderful. Just what she hadn't realised she needed. But she had - needed it that is. There had been so much going on and sometimes it seemed like they could never once catch a break. Not when the kids had still been there to help and not now, when it was just her. Well, her and Sky. An afternoon of pampering herself left her feeling light and recharged in a way she hadn't in a long while.
By the time she went to pick up Sky, she had - rather impulsively - decided to make use of the last hour or so of her free afternoon and done some shopping. Perhaps she had splurged a bit on the lovely green dress, and then a very pretty red one for Sky but then again, what better time for it than a summer holiday?
Sky insisted on wearing her new dress the next day. And when Sarah sat her on her own bed to get ready herself, and then, in a bout of lightheartedness, held up her own dress options for her daughter to pick, well. Sky picked the new green one.
'This one it is, then,' she had agreed with a smile and not even half an hour later, they were off exploring again.
Sarah drove them over into another one of the small towns. It was market day there and with them going back home the day after tomorrow, there were just a few more things they needed to get.
Sky was just as enthusiastic about their market adventure as she had been the first time around and, apart from some begging for colourful fruit and once trying to eat a wooden toy apple (which Sarah proceded to purchase after) from a display, she was on her best behaviour.
Ice cream was not something Sarah herself indulged in much. Sky certainly hadn't had it often - perhaps a spoon from the older kids here or there, but Sarah was a little afraid what the sugar content of a single bowl would do to such a little human being as her daughter. She would end up sugar high for sure. But she had promised, and she felt a little like indulging herself - it was their second-to-last day, after all.
So they sat down in a little ice parlour and Sarah ordered coffee for herself and then three scoops for her and Sky to share.
Vanilla, Raspberry and - on Sky's insistence - 'Nana'.
'Mama, ahhh!' Anyone watching would have melted at the utterly adorable picture mother and daughter made there. Instead of Sky eating the ice cream or allowing her mother to feed her, she was feeding it to Sarah instead. And Sarah didn't even mind that she got sticky all over because she had Sky on her lap, balanced on one leg, and her daughter was giggling and laughing and just so utterly happy.
One of Sky's sticky hands came up, tangling in her hair, and Sarah groaned. 'Not my hair, sweetheart,' she scolded gently and pulled her hair free. Then, she dropped a kiss on Sky's nose. That made Sky scrunch up her face and she went cross eyed as she tried to look at her nose.
'S-icky, Mama,' she protested.
'Yes, sticky.' Sarah smiled and tipped Sky's face up so she could properly look at her. 'But Mama also loves her little darling when she's all sticky.'
Sky probably didn't understand much of that yet, but she still let out a soft little sigh and she dropped her head against Sarah's shoulder. 'Ma-ma,' she mumbled under her breath and in that moment, nothing else mattered. Not sticky ice cream all over them, not their holiday drawing to an end...just this.
Although she did draw up a bath when they got home, because being sticky all over was not Sarah's favourite feeling.
On their last day, Heloise invited them over for dinner again. They spent the morning swimming by the river, the afternoon packing and then went over for a lovely supper once again.
And then it was time to go back home. And as she took a last walk through the little house, Sarah found that yes, she would miss it here. This quiet life where nothing really seemed to happen. But even more was she looking forward to actually being home again, returning to their lives, their routine.
Yes, it had been a nice break, but Sarah knew that she needed to be in the middle of things, no matter how tempting it seemed.
'So, poppet,' Sarah said as she looked at her daughter, then at the house again. 'Can you say bye to the house? Because we're going home now.'
For a moment, Sky hesitated. Buried her cheek in her mother's shoulder to hide. But then she looked up again and at the house. She raised both her little hands, waving wildly at the house. Then, she spoke, smiling.
'Bye bye. '
Over on ao3, I asked if anyone wanted to see the little drawing of Sarah and Sky that I did that matches this chapter. I don't know if artwork can be uploaded here (I don't think so) but feel free to head over there to have a look at it! The latest it will be uploaded is probably when the next chapter is posted, but I'll make a note of it in the beginning of the next chapter :)