Not including Twelve again, these are just starter chapters before the actual reunion. Don't be angry by the buildup, it's always fun, iiisn't it? ,:

~o0o~

Sarah Jane's last encounter with the Doctor was quite scary, but she loved it nonetheless. She had grown used to stuff like that, after all. She could always describe their adventures as scary, risky, dangerous, the like, but to her, it never really was. It was fun, excitement, exhilaration. She knew her Doctor felt the same way too.

The last time she'd seen him, a while ago, at a quite suspicious school with even more suspicious teachers, he had owned a new face. Oh, had he rocked it, too. The spikey brown hair, the long, showy-offy trench coat. He'd said he'd regenerated half a dozen times since she was so young ago. That many times... She couldn't imagine what that must be like.

Despite this, though, he seemed as mysterious, and eccentric, as ever. That would always be the same with him, she just knew it to be true, no matter what face he had.

But something had seemed to be different in her old friend's gaze. He was older, yes, of course, the Doctor's eyes never seemed to change along with everything else. But it was also shame, upon himself, that she could've sworn she had seen a flash of. And perhaps even-

"Mum!" called a familiar boy's voice. She was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up the stairs from where she was sitting, in the kitchen. "Coming, Luke!" she replied, standing up and scooting her chair back in. Knowing there was no haste or urgency in her son's voice, she didn't mind taking her time to climb the steps up into the attic.

When she made it up, it was only Luke. Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra were at their own houses currently, but she was sure they'd come around soon. "Yes?" she asked softly, gently, as her voice most often was while she spoke to Luke. Her boy was sitting upon the sofa they had in the attic. He didn't respond for a moment. "Well, go on," Sarah Jane encouraged, approaching and calmly sitting down next to him.

"I've, um..." he began shyly, but then gained his voice back after a small exhale, "I've been getting nightmares recently."

Sarah Jane blinked at her son for a second, before nodding with understanding. "What about?" she asked softly, reaching out a comforting hand and stroking his shoulder. "I don't know, actually..." he responded, "I can't really remember them. I just remember waking up from them, scared."

Hmm. That was intriguing. But she didn't mention this, and instead leaned in and rested her head on her boy's. "I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about, Luke," she reassured, though she didn't really convince herself. He nodded slowly but opened his mouth to say something back. However, he was interrupted by knocking on the front door. "Oh, that must be Clyde and Rani," she murmured with a warm smile. Luke smiled back, still unsure but he wasn't going to continue for now. The pair stood up and made their way to the stairs, Luke speed-walking more and Sarah Jane following not too far behind.

Luke rushed to the door and swung it open with a wide smile at his two friends. By the time they had run inside, Sarah Jane had just made it down the last steps. She walked over and greeted them. "Come in, come in!" she practically purred, her teeth shining as bright as her welcoming grin.