Chapter Three / When The Lights Go Out

"So, Luke is going to school with the girl across the road?" Harry asked, leaning against the kitchen counter as he dried the dishes. "Maria," Sarah Jane reminded him, imagining that the girl would be making an appearance sooner rather than later. "She just moved in over the road, perfect timing actually. It's easier being the new kid when you're not alone," She added, relieved that Luke and Maria had hit it off as well as two teenagers could when one of them wasn't entirely human – in the traditional sense.

Harry nodded his head, stacking the plates on top of each other before lifting them into the cupboard above him. "...and Maria is the one who found Luke?"

Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow, having already talked Harry through the story while they had dinner. "Maria found him a few minutes before I did at the Bubbleshock factory," She recalled, remembering her shock of stepping into the ladies' room and finding the two teenagers hiding in a cubicle.

"I don't know why I expected anything else," Harry said with a chuckle, knowing if anyone was going to adopt a not-entirely human teenager, then it would be Sarah Jane. "Why, where did you think he came from?" Sarah Jane asked with a chuckle, knowing that her friend always had his nose in a book and an imagination to match.

"Well, you can't deny that the boy looks like he's a chip off the old block, Sarah," Harry said, glancing over his shoulder as he smiled at her, watching as she flung a drying cloth at him. "You would say that" She replied, though she took his words as the highest compliment that anyone could give to her.

Sarah Jane had wanted to make Luke's first day at school as normal as possible. She was going to drop him off before heading off to interview the subject of her next feature article. Harry was catching a lift with her to the train station, planning to call in on Kate Stewart – but with a promise to be back before either Luke or Sarah Jane would be home.

When they pulled into the school car park, its new expansion looming in the background, Harry jumped out of the passenger seat to let Luke out from the back. Patting the boy on the back, Harry stood by the passenger seat door, resting his hand on the roof of the car as he watched Luke and Sarah Jane.

There was still an awkwardness between them, but one that he knew would lessen with time. He could already see the bond forming between the pair, but Harry knew Sarah Jane better than most. The woman had loved and lost, putting a shield around herself to protect her from the outside world.

It was one of the many things Harry Sullivan found himself blaming The Doctor for.

"Now, you take care. Okay?" Sarah Jane asked, adjusting Luke's tie as she tried her best not to fidget. "Goodbye, Mum," Luke said, throwing his backpack onto his shoulder as he nodded his head towards Harry.

"Oh, don't think so. No, Sarah Jane, that's just fine." She quickly corrected him, awkwardly shrugging her shoulders as she resisted the urge to glance over at Harry.

Harry raised an eyebrow, making another mental note to talk to Sarah Jane about Luke calling her 'mum'. If he knew Sarah Jane, he could tell that the woman was already fighting a losing battle of not getting too attached to the boy.

Thankfully, Maria chose then to appear.

"Oh, hi, Maria," Sarah Jane said, smiling at the girl as she came to a stop next to Luke. "Morning, Maria," Harry added, watching as the girl beamed up at Sarah Jane. He could already see the pair forming an attachment to one another, much like Sarah Jane did with her first Doctor.

Sarah Jane stepped forward to kissed Luke's cheek before cupping his face with her hands. As the students laughed behind them, Sarah Jane quickly got back into the car as Harry sighed to himself. Clearly, this would all take some getting used to for all of them.

"Have a good day, you two!" He called before joining Sarah Jane back in the car. "See, that didn't go too bad after all, old girl," Harry insisted, looking over at Sarah Jane as the woman forced a smile before she brought the engine of the little green car to life.

First day and she was already embarrassing Luke. Sarah Jane already wanted to smash her head against the stirring wheel.

By the time the school day was almost over, Sarah Jane had made more than a dent in your article. Harry had found himself knee-deep in reorganising her library of books after coming back from his meeting with Kate, a bundle of UNIT-related documents under his arm.

"You better watch that you don't give yourself a dust allergy," Sarah Jane said as she reappeared in the living room, leaning against the doorframe, teacup in hand. "Do you know, I'm fairly sure half of these are mine," Harry called over his shoulder, half-hidden as he gathered another armful of books from the back of the shelf.

Every time he had taken Sarah Jane out for dinner – without fail – he always showed up with a new book for her to read.

It guaranteed that they'd always have something pleasant to talk about at their next meal, but it was a way he could make sure she didn't forget him.

"I'm going to go and pick up Luke, do you want to come?" She asked, glancing at the clock as she shrugged into her trench coat.

"I was thinking I could start making dinner. I promised Luke, I would help him set up that new telescope you got him, so I think an early dinner is on the cards," Harry explained, wiping off the dust from the cover of a hardback book before adding it to the top of the pile.

Sarah Jane was glad that – even if it was only for a short time – Luke had another adult in his life to help him settle into life on Bannerman Road.

"Leave my kitchen in one piece, Dr. Sullivan," Sarah Jane called over her shoulder as she grabbed her keys and made a beeline to the front door.

Alan looked across the street as his bike came to a stop at his front gate.

"Ah, I see, you've caught a lift, have you?" He asked, watching as his daughter got out of the back of Sarah Jane's car. "I offered," Sarah Jane insisted as his daughter threw her backpack on her shoulder, walking towards him.

"I don't know, Lady Muck," Alan said, walking his bicycle towards the trio as he took off his helmet. "Getting neighbours to chauffeur her around," he added as Maria came to a stop beside him. "Shut up, dad," she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the man.

Sarah Jane turned around as she heard the front door close before Harry's voice filled the air. "Made it through the first day in one piece, I see," Harry said, clapping Luke on the back before he came to stand on the other side of the teenager.

"Mmm. It was okay," Maria said, before turning to look at her dad, "A bit weird though. The headmaster keeps farting," she added, earning a nod from Luke as her dad shook his head. "Really? What, noisy, smelly ones or silent but deadly?" Alan asked, earning a well-deserved "ew!" in response.

It was Luke's turn then to complain.

"The place stinks like batteries – and the canteen food was off," He insisted, feeling as though his stomach was about to start grumbling at any moment.

"Well, the good news is that I already have the dinner on," Harry announced, earning a smile from his younger companion as the teenager visibly brightened at the news that his dinner wouldn't be too far away. "Why don't you head in and get changed?" Sarah Jane added, patting her son on the arm before the boy bided his farewells and headed out.

Alan leaned against his bike as he once again turned his attention to the man standing with his arm around Sarah Jane.

"I'm sorry, we haven't met yet," Alan said, turning his attention towards the older man across
from him. Judging by his interaction with Luke – and the fact he appeared from inside Sarah Jane's house – led him to conclude that the man must have been his neighbour's husband or partner. After all, he doubted the journalist had adopted Luke all by herself.

"You must be Mr. Smith," He assumed, holding his hand out for the man to shake.

Harry chuckled to himself as Sarah Jane froze next to him before she started to protest. "Now, that would be something," he said, shaking the younger man's hand. "Dr. Harry Sullivan, you must be Maria's father, Alan," Harry introduced himself, keeping his arm around Sarah Jane's shoulder.

"I'm afraid there's no tying the old girl down," He joked, earning himself an elbow in the rib from Sarah Jane as she bit her lip, hoping her hair would hide the blush starting to form on her cheeks.

Maria watched the couple in front of her with heightened interest. After all, Sarah Jane hadn't exactly answered her questions about the man on their way home from school.

"Harry is a very old friend, he's visiting Luke and I for a little bit," Sarah Jane explained, playfully glaring at the man beside her as she tried to hide a smile before turning her attention back to her neighbours.

Alan seemed embarrassed then. "Oh, apologises, I just assumed with Luke and everything..." He said, hoping that they would be able to laugh it off. "No harm done, now, I fear I best get back to the kitchen before Luke starves to death," Harry said, squeezing Sarah Jane's shoulder before he smiled at Maria and her father.

"Nice to meet you Alan," he said before heading back inside the house, glancing over his shoulder as he watched Sarah Jane and Alan huddled around a newspaper as Maria headed back across the road.

"So, what was Alan showing you earlier?" Harry asked, plating up their pasta as he lined up the three bowls on the kitchen counter. "There's an article about the new block at Luke's school...I've just got a feeling that there's something there. I can't put my finger on it yet," Sarah Jane explained, placing the cutlery down on the table.

Call it her journalist sixth sense, but Sarah Jane knew something was going on.

Harry chuckled to himself as he stirred the sauce. "Never one to miss out on a story, old thing," he said, doing one last taste before heading towards the kitchen door. "Luke, dinner's ready!" He called, listening as the teenager started to head down the stairs two steps at a time.

"I know we said about going into town tomorrow, but I smell a story here, Harry," Sarah Jane said, carrying her plate over to the table. "Don't worry about it, Sarah, Kate gave me plenty of reading to do," He insisted, knowing that nothing was ever going to come between his friend and her journalistic instinct.

Luke was no sooner down the stairs and in the kitchen before he was already digging into his pasta. "This is amazing, Harry," he said.

Before Harry could start his meal, the lights above them flickered off, the radio in the background dying.

"Power cut?" Harry asked, glad that he had managed to get dinner on the table at just the right time.

"My computer better not have shut off," Sarah Jane muttered, placing her napkin on the table as she lifted the sleeve of her jumper. "I'll just see how long it'll be, I can check the local power grid," she said before arching her brow as the watch beeped to life, only to go blank a moment later. "That's impossible, it never loses power. It can't lose power,"

"Must be a glitch on your watch, Sarah, and of all the times to do it as well..." Harry said, standing from the table as he tapped Luke's shoulders. "Let's go find wherever your mum has hidden the candles," He suggested before the pair of them left the kitchen in search of candles.

No sooner had the pair returned – armed with two candles each – than the lights flickered back on again. Sarah Jane's watch beeped as the room was illuminated by the overhead lights. "Weird," she said, as Luke moved to stand over her shoulder to look at the watch. "Must be faulty," He suggested before dropping the candles down on the worktop, eager to get back to his food.

"Whatever cut the electric off, cut this off as well," Sarah Jane said, feeling her sixth sense starting to kick in again. If her career in journalism had taught her anything, it's that there was no such thing as coincidences.

First thing tomorrow, she was going to see Alan about that school.