It was after seeing Rose Tyler's face again that Sarah Jane found herself at the McDonald's in Florida once again, with her head resting on Harry's lap.
"Sarah?" She heard Harry asking gently. "Sarah, are you awake now?"
She moaned upon taking everything in again. "Yes," she mumbled. "How… how long have I been out of it?"
Harry checked his watch. "For only about seven minutes, believe or not. I remember how you told me that as much as a day could pass by in your visions. Was this one of those cases?"
"It felt like an hour, but luckily not a day," Sarah Jane answered, trying to lighten the mood a little despite how weary she was feeling.
Harry smiled. "Now that's a relief to hear. And how are you feeling?"
"I feel so…disoriented," she answered, "As if there's too much stuff happening at once."
"Do you want to leave yet, or would you rather stay here a while longer?" Harry asked.
Sarah Jane tried to sit up, but her head started spinning the moment she started lifting herself. "Let's stay here," she said in a low voice as she placed her head down in Harry's lap once again.
"I agree. You look as if you're in no shape to be moving around without getting sick," Harry said, placing his hand around Sarah Jane's forehead. "Oh gosh, you're so warm! I thought these fevers would go away once you started taking the ESR regularly," he said.
"The ESR only prevents you from getting seriously ill. You can still get mild fevers and pain after a psychic episode, but it usually goes away after some time has passed by," Sarah Jane explained.
"Okay," Harry said, but Sarah Jane could sense that his unease wouldn't go away. They may not have been in a planet thousands of light years away this time, but somehow, seeing her having these episodes in an everyday setting on Earth felt much worse for him than it had been when they'd been traveling with the Doctor. Over there, it felt like yet another obstacle in the adventure which could be overcome if you remained calm about the situation and did what had to be done. But today, when everything had been going quite normally until he'd run into her, it felt like a true emergency in which he had no idea whether she'd turn out well or not. In some ways, as a matter of fact, life on Earth was way more unpredictable than it was on other planets.
"So, helping me out back then felt like another part of the adventure for you?" Sarah Jane asked, managing a mischievous smile.
"You probably remember my old desire to be like James Bond, don't you?" Harry asked, and when Sarah Jane nodded, he said, "Well, as silly as it may seem, there was never a time I felt more like an action hero than when I was looking after you after you'd had those psychic episodes. I was always scared when it happened, but knowing that I was helping out the one woman on board gave me this strange pleasure which I was a little ashamed of."
"Oh, that's just what men like you get pleasure from, Harry," Sarah Jane said jokingly. "Being the knight and shining armor who saves the life of the damsel in distress whenever he gets the chance. Why let the woman be the hero when the men can just carry them away from the danger and get all the honor for themselves while the woman just adores them for saving her life? James Bond, indeed."
Harry, clearly not getting that she was joking, blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to put women down or anything like that. I was just admitting how I felt back then. I've changed a lot since then, I promise…"
Sarah Jane laughed. "You don't ever get it, do you, Harry? I was just joking! What you said does sound a little as if some macho fantasy of yours came true during our adventures, but I'm not actually offended by it. In fact, I always thought you were too sweet and naive to actually be misogynistic."
"Good to know that my good deeds back then aren't tainted in your memory by thoughts that I hate women," Harry said.
"You may underestimate them sometimes, but you certainly don't hate them," Sarah Jane said.
"All right. So now I know what I need to work on," Harry said, and they both laughed.
It was then that Christine came in with a refilled drink. "Doc, I got the drink for when Sarah Jane…" and upon seeing Sarah Jane looking a little better (although still somewhat pale) and laughing along with Harry, the girl beamed. "You're okay again, Sarah Jane!" she exclaimed. "For a moment, I thought you were going to stay unconscious all day, but it's good to see that you're awake and feeling better."
"Well, Christine, I'm still a little weak, but Harry here can never keep anyone feeling down even when they're sick," Sarah Jane said. "Now Harry, would you mind helping me up so I can have the drink Christine has so kindly brought over?"
"That would be my pleasure, Sarah," Harry said, and he held unto Sarah Jane's shoulder as she pulled herself up to a sitting position.
Christine sighed, thinking she could never understand the interactions between those two. But she still sat down next to Sarah Jane as she slowly sipped the iced water she'd gotten for her. With just a couple of sips, the color started coming back into her cheeks, to the point where the paleness was almost completely gone.
"And now you've got to have your medicine," Harry said, taking out the ESR bottle from his bag and a small spoon. He then carefully filled the spoon with the light green liquid and placed it in Sarah Jane's mouth. She took her time swallowing the medicine, which tasted a lot like fizzy lime soda, as was required to get its full effect. And once she'd finished it, she felt as if the fever was truly easing off then.
"Feeling better now, Sarah?" Harry asked.
"Better than when I woke up, that's for sure," she answered.
"I take that as a yes," Harry said. "But now that I know you're more at ease, I take it you noticed a little too much of what I was thinking when you asked me if these incidents felt more like an adventure during our travels?"
"Yes. Did it really seem much scarier now that we're in more ordinary settings?" Sarah Jane asked.
"It sure did, especially since I thought the ESR would put a stop to it for good after a while. But seeing it continue happening to you, and this time without giant bugs or Sontarans chasing after us, made it feel like a more serious incident. These episodes really can happen to you when you least expect them, not just when we're somewhere in space," Harry admitted.
"I was actually just as shocked as you were when I discovered this myself," Sarah Jane said. "At first, it was when I was traveling alone with the Doctor, but he was convinced that the exposure to radiation and gases was what caused it. Then, shortly after I got back home, I had an episode again when I was visiting my friends Tom and Violet Marsh. I'd convinced them that I'd found a way to treat the sickness I sometimes got after having my visions, and so when I started getting this awful stomach ache and fever after I'd had a vision, we were all scared."
"Hold on? Did you experience that same post- travel sickness I had?" Harry asked.
"What post- travel sickness? No one told me anything about that, Harry," Sarah Jane said.
Harry then explained to her the strange illness he'd gone through once he'd returned home from their travels, and how he'd spend weeks with symptoms like those of food poisoning, but would not recover when given any form of treatment until he'd followed the Brigadier's advice to go out more. He also told her that some other past companions had experienced this and only recovered once they went on seeking lives of travel and adventure.
"And did you ever find out what caused this?" Sarah Jane asked.
"No. The only possible explanation anyone can think of is the same as what the Doctor thought was causing that psychic illness of yours: exposure to radiation and gases," Harry said. "Now, how long did it take you to recover from it?"
"Only three days, actually. I then followed Tom and Violet along on one of their concert tours even though they insisted I shouldn't, and just by doing that, I recovered. Strange, isn't it? I was only sick for a couple of days while you were like that for almost a month," Sarah Jane said.
"Do you think your powers helped you in some way?" Harry asked.
"Could be, but it's still interesting to see that so many of us experienced this. It's as if the TARDIS leaves behind some form of energy on those who travel in it which requires them to constantly live lives of adventure or else get sick. You become incapable of functioning if you try to settle down," Sarah Jane said.
"You got that right. Could it be trying to turn us all into Time Lords?" Harry asked.
"That would be fun to see happen. You guys already sound a lot like the Doctor sometimes and with Harry actually being a doctor, who knows what sort of powers he'd have?" Christine said.
"Well, twelve years after setting foot in the TARDIS, I'm still not capable of reading minds with as much accuracy as either you or Sarah can, Christine, so don't count on me becoming psychic even if I am somehow capable of regeneration," Harry said with a smile.
"But you still haven't told us what happened in your vision, Sarah Jane. I was able to hear Rose's voice calling out for her mom a while after you became unconscious, but I had no idea of what was going on," Christine said.
And so, Sarah Jane told them about how Jackie Tyler had walked into Northern Horizon's ballroom and found herself in the middle of a New Year's Eve party in 1924, coming across both a former caretaker and her friend who'd been killed weeks earlier, who informed her that everyone in the party was dead and experiencing the same day repeatedly. Jackie had then given into the strong withdrawal she'd been having for weeks, drinking heavily and even dancing with one of the dead party guests. But upon being stopped by the twin daughters of the caretaker, she'd been forced to withdraw from the action, and was then taken out of the scene by the car accident victim from months back.
If it hadn't been for Christine's telepathic communication with Rose a while back, Harry would have been very shocked by all this information. But knowing what he did, all he asked once Sarah Jane was done was, "How do you think Jackie was capable of seeing this if she doesn't have Rose's powers?"
"Ghosts can be noticed by anyone who examines closely enough, Harry, not just by psychics. Otherwise, how do you think some of my friends would have survived the adventures we had in the past?" Sarah Jane said.
"Good point. I forget about that sometimes," Harry said. "So, seeing how Rose now has UNIT officials willing to help her out, how do you think they'll be able to handle fighting the supernatural? Most of their work was dedicated to defeating aliens in the past, and the Brigadier admitted to me that many officials were at first suspicious about you and your motives behind joining forces with the Doctor, thinking that you wanted him to lead him towards believing in superstition instead of working to find the real causes behind some of the problems they encountered."
"Oh, really? And can you tell me who those officers were by any chance?" Sarah Jane asked, although this wasn't news to her, since she kept a close mental inspection on the officers during her early days at UNIT. She just wanted to see how much Harry really knew about the old trust issues.
"Rest assured that it wasn't either the Brigadier or Sergeant Benton. They had their doubts at times, but they always believed you had good intentions in helping them out. The Brigadier, however, liked to keep people anonymous when sharing this sort of information, so he never gave any names," Harry said.
"As to your question, I'm sure UNIT is willing to fight anything for the Doctor's sake. If they could put up with a crazy psychic woman, then maybe they can attempt confronting an angry ghost as well. It will help a lot if Rose can guide them through it."
"If she doesn't freeze up like you just did, that is," Christine said anxiously.
"Who knows what it would be capable of doing to her if that happened? And if she was to handle it alone, it would much worse," Sarah Jane said. Then, looking at Harry, she said, "Don't you think I should return to London within the next two days? If I did, then maybe I could help Rose out when she sees the entity at the party."
"Don't even think about it, Sarah. Given the state you've been in recently, how do you think you'll handle staying well during a flight? You should stay with me instead, and we'll see if there's some other way we could help Rose," Harry said.
"But I don't believe anyone could help Rose as much as I could, Harry. Could you imagine, for instance, what might have happened if I wasn't around when the Doctor transferred himself over to Christine's mind? And besides, I already promised Tom Marsh that I'd get back home if I failed to recover from these episodes," Sarah Jane insisted.
"She's right, Harry. Since she could communicate with the Doctor, she helped Rose and me through the whole thing. And if you're scared that she'll be alone, then why can't we go with her? Neither of us has plans for Christmas, and you've told me that you have a ton of money for anything we want, so there's nothing to stop us from going back to London," Christine said.
Harry thought about it for a moment. Then, with a smile, he said, "I suppose having a doctor by your side will help make the plane ride more bearable. Also, I've grown to miss England during Christmastime. Here it's usually cool and without a trace of snow, which is nice until I start remembering how happy I used to get during the first snowfall of the year. And Christine claims she's never seen snow, so that might be a first for her."
"I'm loving the idea already, Doc," Christine said cheerfully. "A Christmas with Sarah Jane and Rose sounds a lot better than a Christmas with cranky old Mrs. Corrigan and her annoying cats."
"Sounds wonderful," Sarah Jane said. "Now, would you mind telling me who's Mrs. Corrigan, Christine?"
"She's my neighbor, and she used to babysit me before Harry came along, Sarah Jane, and now she's the one who spreads all the awful rumors about us," Christine said.
"What rumors?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Just questions about my credibility as a doctor and why I spend so much time with Christine. It's nothing too serious if you really think about it," Harry said.
"Whatever they may be, she certainly doesn't sound like someone who embraces southern hospitality," Sarah Jane said.
"Got that right," Christine said.
"So, this is going to be interesting. All of us who've been helping Rose over the past months will probably be gathering together for the first time. Do you think the Doctor will be willing to give us all a ride in the TARDIS if he makes it out of Rose's mind without any issues?' Harry said.
"I'll be sure to ask him when the time comes," Sarah Jane said smiling. "But for now, we've got to keep our focus on Rose, right Christine?"
"I can't think of anything more important right now," Christine said.
