Rani came out and closed the door behind her. "Sarah Jane says to run up and get her one of your spare tops. She's bandadged it and it should hold for a while. She's given her some stuff to fight off infection."

As I went up to get her a top from my top drawer I reviewed all my clothes metally in my head. A top could fit, even if it would be incredibly baggy, but we would have to go out and get the girl some new clothes. The jeans I wore would stay up for a second on her my trainers must be about three or four sizes too big.

In my room, I found the smallest t-shirt that I could, one I hadn't worn for months because I could hardly pull it over my head it was so tight. I found some PE shorts she could wear if they decided to change all her clothes and a small jacket I'd never been able to zip up at the front. I found her some socks and hoped she had underwear of her own.

When I got downstairs, Rani took the clothes with a smile and dissapeared into the living room again. I waiting impatiently, trying to count the dust mote swirling around me. I got to 2,391 when the living room door opened again and Rani and Sarah-Jane came out.

"When we're sure she OK, we'll carry her up so Mr Smith can scan her." Sarah-Jane told us. "I don't know what could have made that mark on her back, but Mr Smith may be able to work it out by the shape."

It was nearing seven o'clock by this point, so mum made me and Rani tea. It was dark outside and the rain was even heavier now. I could hear it hit our conservatory repeatedly, like a drumming. As I ate my pasta (of all the food I've ever tried since being here, pasta is most definitely the best), I kept on looking at the door, beyond which the girl lay sleeping. (At least I hope she was sleeping, -not in a coma or anything!) Rani and Sarah-Jane were doing it too and I knew there were thinking about her, just like me.

"Are we going to keep her?" I blurted out. I could help myself. The question had been niggling at the back of my mind for the last half-hour at least. I was worried. Sarah-Jane had kept me, but I didn't know if she wanted another person about the house, another person to involve in the mad world of aliens. I couldn't see anything else we could do with her, but who knows? Sarah Jane could give her to Torchwood to look after in their cells if she didn't want anyone else to look after. I didn't realise until then that I wanted her to stay. I wanted to know what she knew and I wanted to help teach her thing, like Sarah-Jane and Maria could do for me. I would be as alone as I was now. I wouldn't be so different.

Sarah-Jane looked at me for a bit. Then she sighed. "Of course, Luke." she told me. "What else could we do with her?" No way was I going to explain the Torchwood route to her if she hadn't thought about it yet. "The girls skin and bone. Goodness knows what's happened to her to put her in the state she is now. We couldn't give her to a hospital or an adoption place. How would she fit in?" Sarah-Jane smiled. "Besides, it would be unfair to keep you and sen her away. You're basically family."

Family. I hadn't though of that. I weight I hadn't known I was carrying had lifted off my shoulders when Sarah-Jane had said we could keep her. Keep her. I made it sound like she was some kind of pet.

"We should go and look at her again." Commented Sarah-Jane and Rani and me helped clean up the dishes in the sink.

We opened the door quietly onto the dark room. The girl still lay on the sofa unmoving. She hadn't even turned over. I could hear her breath in the silent room, but I could see the slight heave of her chest as she dragged air in.

"Maybe we shoud scan her now." I suggested quietly. "She may have internal injuries that we may have overlooked and Mr Smith will be able to see them when he scans her."

Sarah-Jane was silent for a moment, mulling it over. "What if we hurt her?" she asked. The figure did look very delicate just lying there. I could see the outline of the bandage Sarah-Jane had made for her against the too-big t-shirt she had on. I scowled. That was the t-shirt I could pull over my head. I wasn't that big! "She doesn't look very good."

"I still think we move her." I whispered. Rani made an agreeing noise. "We need to see what's wrong with her."

Sarah-Jane nodded her assent.

It wasn't hard work lifting her up the stairs. With each of us holding about 1/3 of her weight it felt like carrying a kitten. (Haven't done this before, but Rani used to have cats and she says that they're not that heavy). Sarah-Jane had her arms, while Rani had her feet and I supported her middle. The bandages looked like te only thing keeping her together. It took all of two minutes to get her upstairs, with lots of shouting of 'Corner!' and 'Watch that step Rani!'

Once upstairs, we deposited her on the long couch-thing. She lay there, oblivious to everything. I wondered if she would ever wake up, or if we would just continuously take her up and down the stairs.

As Sarah-Jane called upon Mr Smith, Rani and I looked at the small figure.

"Do you think we should poke her?" Rani asked, only half joking. "It might get her awake." I smiled, but shook my head. "I think you could bang dustbin lids at this one and she would wake up." I answered. Mr Smith's emerging from the wall (quite a loud process) had not phased her.

Rani and I tugged the couch closer to the super-computer as Sarah-Jane asked him to run a scan on her. She also gave him a sample of her blood she had collected earlier when it had been spilling everywhere. A laser ran along the figure. We settled back to wait for the answers.