This has probably been done to death but I saw School Reunion on UKTV Drama yesterday and I just had to write this. Italics are thoughts.
And I don't know if it was 30 years at the time of the episode, but I'll just pretend it is.
They are not mine, sadly. As I said before, the TARDIS cannot fit in my room.
DOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHO
"Smith.
John Smith."
"John Smith. I used to have a friend who
sometimes went by that name."
There was something odd about the new physics teacher that Sarah Jane Smith, journalist, extraordinaire, couldn't place. Maybe it was because he had seemed unusually happy to see her. Maybe it was because he said "Brilliant!" when she spoke to him. Or maybe it was because he was wearing Converses with his suit.
Still, he seemed very nice. He seemed to think that something else was definitely going on in the school. The Doctor would have liked this guy, she thought. Well, maybe not his dress sense. Still, like he could talk! She chuckled to herself. When she said he was an uncommon man, it wasn't as if she was lying. How many other people did you know with a scarf so long that you often had to step on it to get his attention?
With a thud in the pit of her stomach, she realised that it was thirty years to the day that she had left the TARDIS. Pearl anniversary.
DOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHO
He knew it was her even before Mr Finch introduced her. Sarah Jane Smith, journalist. She had gotten older; well it had been thirty years, but she still looked as gorgeous as the day she left the TARDIS. The Doctor wasn't one for dates, but he would always remember that particular day of the year.
Sarah hadn't lost her accent or her inquisitive nature. Certainly she knew that something else was going on, besides a fantastic set of results for the school.
He'd been delighted to see her and it must have showed. She mentioned her old friend, who used that name, and he knew exactly whom she was talking about. Well it's nice to see she hasn't forgotten.
"No harm in a little investigation, is there?" That was exactly the sort of thing he had expected her to say. Her curious nature had sometimes got them into trouble, but that was the thing about Sarah that the Doctor wouldn't change for the world.
"Good for you, Sarah Jane Smith!"
DOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHO
Sarah stepped out of the classroom into the corridor and tried to get her bearings. She hadn't been in school for years, but an empty school at night gave her the creeps. Still, her professional pride wasn't about to let her give up, certainly not without a fight.
But when she heard the rattling as she tried to get into Finch's office, using a hairpin from the packet she always had, and not always for their intended use, Sarah felt terrified. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so scared.
Probably when I was with the Doctor.
She rushed into the nearest room, a cupboard for sports equipment, shut the door, looked around, and felt her heart drop out of her stomach.
There, looking just as she remembered it, large as life, and wonderfully conspicuous, was the Doctor's faithful TARDIS.
Oh no! No no no no no! This isn't happening!
Was it a wonderful dream, or a horrible nightmare? Sarah didn't know. Heart hammering, she backed out of the room into the games hall, turned around, and there was the physics teacher.
John Smith. Only now she could guess who he really was.
"Hello Sarah Jane."