Chapter Twenty Seven
The next morning on Moonbase Alpha, Sarah's alarm went off as usual and for just a split second she thought she'd dreamed the entire adventure until she saw the opened bottle of champagne. She stood and put on her robe before approaching the bottle and running her finger along the rim. It wasn't a dream, it actually happened. Her Doctor had returned for her. Not the Doctor she'd left behind, but he was in there along with all the rest of his incarnations. Next to the bottle was a note.
Sarah,
Taking Bettan and all the others back to Skaro where they can begin again. The
Commander has donated a large amount of supplies to help them create a new
culture, a world that doesn't include the Daleks. They wanted to say goodbye but you
were sleeping so peacefully that I couldn't wake you. Besides, we can always visit
them later if you want. After that I'm going to contact Kate and see if she wants the
Moon back. I'll meet you at the meeting the Commander's called at noon. See you
there. I love you my Sarah!
Love,
Doctor
Sarah smiled as she hugged the note to her chest. Looking at the clock she decided to do something she'd never had time for since arriving on Alpha. She was going to take her time and pamper herself. She walked into the bathroom as she'd done hundreds of times before and looked into the mirror. Wow, she did look young! She looked maybe twenty or twenty one. Her long hair was in a disheveled bun. 'Well, that has to go,' she thought to herself. Sarah brushed her long hair out and then reached into the drawer to retrieve her scissors and comb. Parting her hair along the front, she combed it smooth and cut herself some bangs.
"That's a start." she said to no one aloud. Brushing the remainder forward, she pulled it to the front of her head, holding the scissors out in front of her. It had been a long time since she'd cut any length off her hair. "It's just hair Sarah, it's not as if it won't grow back." she scolded herself. "And it's not as if you've haven't cut your hair a dozen times while you were traveling in the Tardis. This hair belonged to Elisabeth Baker and she's gone." She took a deep breath and continued, "Welcome back Sarah. Here goes nothing." She took the scissors and began cutting. She held the well over foot long length of hair in front of her and smiled. This was the last physical representation of Elisabeth Baker and it was time to say goodbye.
"Goodbye old friend." she said as she dropped the mass of hair into the wastebasket. Without looking in the mirror, she flipped her hair back and jumped in the shower. This was the beginning of claiming her life as Sarah Jane Smith. She enthusiastically washed her now shorter hair and took a long shower. She wanted to look her best for the Doctor.
In the conference room slightly before noon, the command staff began arriving for the meeting. The Commander smiled as he watched each come in looking a little worse for wear. Helena took a seat next to him with her head bowed. He leaned in conspiratorially and softly said, "Physician, heal thyself, isn't that what they say?"
Helena looked up at him and said, "Shut up. How are you so perky today?" She gently rubbed her temples.
"I didn't overdo it." He leaned in and gently placed an arm around her shoulders. "Are you going to be up for this meeting?"
"I'll get through it." She shook her head as if to clear it. "Have you seen the Doctor and Sarah Jane yet today?"
"I met with and saw the Doctor early this morning. He and Maya gathered up everyone from Skaro and took them home. I haven't seen Sarah Jane yet." He looked up to see Victor, Maya, Tony and Alan arriving, each quietly taking a seat. From the look on some of their faces, they too were feeling the aftereffects of the party today as well.
"Hello everyone." the Doctor's booming voice said as he rounded the door and clapped his hands together, making a few in the room jump. He looked the room over and asked, "Where's Sarah?"
From behind him, dressed in a fresh Alphan uniform was Sarah Jane Smith. Her shoulder length curled hair swinging about her shoulders, she answered, "I'm here."
The Doctor turned around and it was clear to everyone in the room, he was surprised. She looked exactly like she had when they'd first traveled together albeit slightly younger. As she approached the table all the men rose from their seats.
Alan was the first to comment on the change. "Sarah Jane, you look beautiful." he smiled enthusiastically.
"Thank you Alan." she said and turned to the Doctor and asked, "What do you think?"
"It's the way you always wore your hair. You know I always think you're beautiful." He gave her a kiss on her cheek. Then whispered in her ear, "I'll tell you how much I love it later." He took a seat next to Sarah and leaned back in his chair.
"All right everyone. Let's get the meeting started. I know a few of us…" he hesitated and looked around the group, "need a bit of rest after last night's party so I'll try and make this brief." He shuffled through some papers on his desk and began, "This morning the Doctor took the people of the planet Skaro back home along with some survival supplies gathered by Maya." He smiled his thanks to Maya. "Because of our good fortune we also were able to send them with seed and supplies from our food stores to help them get started. Doctor were you able to contact Unit?"
The Doctor smiled. "Yes and they were beyond ecstatic that I was able to find you. After a bit of discussion between myself and their scientists, they've decided that once we're able to neutralize the nuclear waste…"
Victor Bergman held up a finger in the air. "Excuse me, neutralize the nuclear waste? How would we do that?"
The Doctor answered, "It's something I agreed to do. But I'm sorry. I won't be able to tell any of you how I do it, it's a bit of knowledge the human race isn't ready for yet."
The Alphans as one looked confused and a little mistrusting. "Doctor…" Maya began.
"They wanted the Moon back but were concerned about the nuclear waste which is understandable considering that's what caused this whole mess to begin with. I told them I would only defuse the nuclear waste if they promised to abandon the idea of bringing any more up here. The Moon was never a place to dump Earth's nuclear waste. They agreed to my conditions."
"If they hadn't?" Alan asked somberly.
"If they hadn't, I would have loaded everyone in the Tardis and taken you back to Earth and left the Moon behind." As he looked around the table he realized their fear. "You were always going back to Earth, with or without the Moon." One by one, relief washed across the Alphans' faces.
Sarah sat at his side and watched the Doctor in action. He loved being in charge. She never doubted his intentions for a minute. "So how soon will this journey begin?" she asked.
"I'll go back to the Tardis and do what a Time Lord's gotta do," he smiled down at Sarah, "and take care of the nuclear waste." He looked around the table and said, "As for you lot, I suggest you begin packing. I should be done by tonight so I told Earth that I'd be towing you home tomorrow morning."
"Towing us?" Maya questioned.
"Yes, I've worked it all out. Without the power of the rift I didn't think I'd be able to do it but, and I think this is genius on my part, I'm going to feed some of the energy I'll be removing from the nuclear waste into the Tardis giving the old girl the energy she needs to pull you back home." He leaned back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest grinning like a mad man.
The Alphans were bewildered and weren't quite sure what to say. John Koenig looked to Maya for some kind of validation. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to figure it all out. So he decided to ask the source in question, "And you're positive you can do this?"
"Yes, I am." He looked around the confused faces and stood, spreading his hands out on the table. "I told you when I came here that I would get you home. Trust me, by dinner tomorrow night you'll all be on Earth." The change in mood was instantaneous, everyone was smiling. "Are there any other questions because I'd like to get started?"
"Doctor how long will it take for you to tow us back to Earth?" John asked, unable to wipe the smile from his face.
"I think depending on all the variables it should take about a hour." he smiled.
"Variables? What variables?" Victor Bergman enquired.
"I like to think of them as shortcuts across time and space but you'd think of them as variables. Now any other questions?" he asked hoping he wasn't going to be asked to explain something to people that couldn't feel the ripples of time and space as he did. There was never any way to explain that he 'felt' his way across space and time in his beloved Tardis. He looked over at Sarah who shared a knowing smile with him, she understood.
The Commander understood the Doctor's finality of the statement. He'd done it himself innumerable times to simply get on with the task at hand. He now understood what his fellow Alphans had gone through when he'd had to make a final decision that they had no real control over. "Not right now Doctor. For everyone on Moonbase Alpha, I'd like to give our sincere thanks. You're about to give us something we'd all given hope of ever finding, Earth."
"No thanks necessary." He reached down and took Sarah's hand as he led her from the room.
"Are we going to the Tardis?" Sarah asked.
"I am." he said simply.
"On no, you're not leaving me…" Sarah began to protest.
"You're right I'm not leaving." he explained. "I made a promise to Unit to take care of the nuclear waste and I need all my attention to be directed on that." He leaned down and put his hand under her chin and tipped her head up so he could look in her eyes. "Right now and I suspect for the foreseeable future, you are going to be a massive distraction, a distraction that I'll happily indulge in. But for now, just a small while, I need to do this." He took her hand as they continued to walk. Before either knew it they were in front of Sarah's quarters. "Besides, you like everyone else on this base need to pack. Your room on the Tardis is filled with souvenirs from everywhere we've been and I know this won't be any different."
Sarah looked up at him suspiciously. "But what if something happens?"
"Trust me when I say that this time absolutely nothing will happen."
"I don't like that word absolutely." she said with a frown.
"Why?" he questioned.
"It's too much like unsinkable." she answered, looking down.
"After everything we've been through, you don't honestly think I'd leave you here to be stuck on the Moon again do you?" Sarah started to answer when he reached down and kissed her deeply putting an end to her reply. "You pack and I'll be back here later to pick you up for dinner, all right?"
"You better be." she stoically answered.
"Don't worry." he chided.
"It's my right. Remember I've traveled with you before." She gave him a small smile before saying as the door slid shut, "See you at dinner."
"It's a date." he said to her closing door. He lightly patted the closed door before continuing down the corridor to his Tardis.
The Doctor worked through the day neutralizing the explosive effects of the nuclear waste dumps and carefully siphoned some of the energy off to help the Tardis complete the Alphans' journey home. "There, there old girl, I know it's not what you're used to but we're nowhere near the rift and I need to get the Moon back into Earth orbit." He patted the central console lovingly and listened as if he were having a conversation that only he was privy to with the Tardis. "No, we won't have to do this again. I believe they may have actually learned their lesson this time. And if they haven't, I made them promise to never again bring their nuclear waste to the Moon. It was a stupidly disastrous idea to begin with!"
He walked around the central console again checking the dials. "They are good people and they accepted Sarah as one of their own. They actually taught her to fly one of their spacecraft. Can you believe that? Our Sarah flying a spacecraft!" he told the Tardis bursting with pride. "Because they're such good people they deserve to go back to Earth. I just hope Earth deserves them. Still another thought for another day." He checked a reading and continued, "I know you're not much of a fan of this energy but you'll burn it off as soon as we get the Moon back in orbit. Then we'll park on Earth for a bit and you can absorb all the rift energy you want. The best part old girl is that when we take off from Earth again it will be with Sarah. This time the Time Lords won't take her away from us. This time she's here to stay. Did I tell you that everything we did worked and she actually regenerated? Well you'll see, she's back for good." He stroked the column in the center. "All right, let's go back to Alpha." He set the coordinates and landed right outside of Command Center.