A slightly isolated area In London, where the usual traffic was limited and a couple of elegant houses dating back to the Victorian era stood in a neat row next to a park where only trees and flowers could be seen, was where Sarah Jane Smith had been living since 1982. Unlike her neighbors, she was neither married nor had any children of her own, yet she always managed to welcome in a couple of close friends from time to time. Today, it was little Mickey Smith, the only son of a couple whose lives she'd saved five years ago by warning them about a plane which later crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing nearly everyone aboard ; a fact which the boy had no idea about.

"So Mickey, can you explain to me about this fight your mother just told me about?" she asked in that tone of voice she used when she attempted to take on the role of a Smith, Mickey's mother, had just called her about a call she got from a hysterical mother who was threatening to press charges because Mickey had beaten up her son Max at school and the headmistress had let him go unpunished. Rachel wasn't taking the threat so seriously, but she was concerned about how Mickey might have done something so reckless. "He's not like that at all, Sarah, and you know him well enough to understand that. If he did do it, talk some sense into that boy, since he should know better!" she'd said on the phone just a while before Sarah started to have this talk with him.

"I had to do it, Sarah! They were trying to hurt Rose," Mickey tried to explain.

"Rose? The girl you introduced me to when I came to pick you up?"

Sarah had not stopped thinking about that girl. It had been years since the last time she had seen someone with whom she could have what she liked to call a "connection of the mind". There were a few people who seemed to have some good sense of what of what you were feeling, as well as some who could correctly guess who was calling them or who was paying an unexpected visit. These people could best be described as intuitive. She almost always sensed this in mothers, including Rachel, and in those who had a high degree of empathy. However, these people were never able to get into the depths of your thoughts and know exactly what you were thinking, word for word, nor were they capable of predicting unexpected events, such as a sudden change to a daily routine or someone's death. All of this was what Sarah was able to do, and what she was able to fully detect in the mind of Rose Tyler.

Sarah Jane had been aware that she had ESP since she was two years old and had started hearing her grandmother calling out to her through her mind. Jane Harris, who was Sarah Jane's maternal grandmother, had been helping raise her and her two sisters, Rebecca and Lucy, ever since their mother had died during the birth of Lucy, the youngest. Their father, Eddie Smith, was a struggling businessman who had suffered from depression and other undiagnosed psychological problems his whole life. He'd done the best he could for his daughters, but he never fully got over the death of his wife and other traumatic experiences from his early life. He had three nervous breakdowns during Sarah's childhood that had required hospitalization, and when at home, he often had to be supported financially by his younger sister Lavinia and several friends.

Because of this and the fact that they were able to share a connection of the mind, Sarah Jane was very close to her grandmother. They would often have full conversations without ever opening their mouths, and whenever anything was wrong with either one of them, the other nearly always detected it and offered the necessary support. There were even times when they managed to use their powers to help other people, sometimes together but more often when they were alone, and half the time, the people they helped would never find out about their ESP. This strong relationship and commitment to using their powers to help anyone in need lasted until Jane's death in 1978, at the age of eighty-eight.

"Yes. Didn't you notice how untidy Rose looked? " Mickey went on.

"Of course, Mickey. Now that I think about it, she didn't look quite well for someone who's just starting school." Without any further inquisition, Sarah already knew that he was telling the full truth. She could see the images in his mind as clearly as if they were part of a film. As she started setting up a plate with the chocolate chip cookies she'd baked earlier and pouring two glasses of iced tea out of a teapot which was a family heirloom, she could see the poor girl being questioned by a group of older boys, and then how they tried to get a hold of her, causing Rose to run in panic.

But what caught Sarah's full attention was the name Rose had softly yet audibly uttered earlier in the vision: John Smith.

Could it really be him? Was this the same John Smith with whom she'd traveled through time and space from 1979 to 1981? John Smith, alias for a Time Lord known as the Doctor? Although Sarah had first met him face-to-face in 1979, he had been appearing to her in dreams and visions since 1963, when she was twelve years old.

Around that summer, she started having recurring dreams about an old man and his granddaughter , whom always appeared to be lost. In the earliest of these dreams, they just walked around in a wasteland all alone, with the granddaughter, who appeared to be about fifteen, always asking the old man when they were going to go back home. The old man would always respond by saying that they couldn't because it was too difficult. They'd supposedly rebelled against someone, and therefore, could not come back home without putting both their lives at soon learned that the girl's name was Susan, but she couldn't yet figure out the old man's name.

After a while though, Susan appeared on Earth in England as a secondary school student. At times, she knew more about certain subjects than her teachers did, but on other occasions, she would get confused on account of not knowing certain facts which were common knowledge to her classmates. Sarah would often find herself seated right next to her, and she would sometimes try whispering the correct answers to Susan, but of course, just like everyone else in that classroom, she could neither hear nor see Sarah. It was as if she were a ghost.

But it all started getting really intense when Susan's teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who taught science and history, became concerned enough to follow her home from school in order to meet with her grandfather. They ended up stepping into a police box along with her, and all of a sudden, they were all traveling together through time and space through what was really a time machine (or TARDIS, standing for Time and Relative Dimension In Space). The old man referred to himself as the Doctor, without being specific as to what kind of doctor he was supposed to be.

They almost always managed to get themselves into dangerous situations. The first involved cavemen, and then some creatures known as Deleks, followed by many run-ins with aliens, historical figures, and others. At this point, the dreams were so full of action and violence that Sarah would find herself waking up in shock before it was all over, yet the Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara were always able to confront those conflicts with little to no harm among themselves.

Sarah would have these dreams on a regular basis for about a year, and then, following several unfortunate circumstances when she was thirteen, they completely stopped. Lilke most dreams people have, all those nightly adventures of the old man and his companions were soon completely forgotten for nearly fifteen years.

By now, Mickey had already started eating the snack she had set up for him, and beside him was K9, the robotic dog which Sarah had gotten as a Christmas present in 1981, several months after she returned to Earth for had come along with a note from the Doctor, explaining that the dog had been a loyal companion to him for the past couple of years, and that he thought he could now help her with her journalism assignments.

Although K9 became the best partner and pet anyone could ask for, at the time he was given to her, Sarah had been deeply upset. Her sister Lucy had died in a train accident three months before, and her father had gone so far as to attempt suicide by overdosing on antidepressants. She thought that if the Doctor had really cared about her, he would have returned to her in person ; he would have located her at the time she'd had the vision of a train collapsing and have told her to take action so she could have saved Lucy. But after these feelings of anger, she started to believe that the real reason he'd given K9 to her was because his time was almost up and he would never be able to say goodbye in any other way without putting her life in danger.

"Mickey, when you see Rose again, tell her that I'd like to invite her to come over here."

"Really? That's great! " he exclaimed, looking up from under the table, where he had started playing with K9. Sarah had told him that the dog was a gift from a scientist, which was half true if one considered the things the Doctor was capable of. "And when should she come over?"

"I'm free all of next week. Let's settle for next Wednesday, all right?"

"Yeah. I'll let her know tomorrow."

Sarah smiled at him. "And one more thing."

"Yes, Sarah?"

"Do try to watch over her whenever you can. I have a feeling that Rose will be having a difficult time with all those children."

"I already promised her that I'd do that, so don't worry about it."

If only she could. If only the innocence of children would be enough to protect them for a lifetime. But of course, the world was harsh, with many dangers which were both visible and invisible. Mickey and Rose were just starting to learn about them, and Rose was soon going to learn more than any child should have to bear at such a young age.

Or perhaps all of this was why John Smith was starting to appear to her: to make it more easier to handle the challenges of being gifted, which was how the Doctor had referred to Sarah at the start of their travels, after she explained her powers and how she believed she might have seen him before. If there was anyone who could handle these kinds of tasks, it was the Doctor.

Of course, Sarah Jane would have to do her part as well, and as always, she was determined to succeed.

Updated Author's Note: In the earlier version of this chapter, I wrote that Sarah Jane had traveled with the Doctor from 1974 to 76, which was when the episodes were made. However, when I watched the show Pyramids of Mars (a 1975 episode) , it's said that they're from the year 1980. This timeline dates back to the early UNIT episodes, including The Invasion, which was made in 1969 but is set in 1975. I also change Sarah Jane's age by about two years (making her twelve in 1963) to match with what's shown in TSJA. Sorry about any confusion this may cause, and if you have anymore questions on this, feel free to send me a PM.

That's all for now, and thank you all for reading, reviewing, and following.