The Running Man
Promise
"Why does he always come back?" Sarah Jane asked K9, pulling to a stop at a red light.
What a sight they must have made, her sitting in the drivers' seat, talking to nothing (from anyone else's perspective, anyway) and the tin dog next to her, strapped in as if he were a small child, taking in the world.
"Master always comes back," said K9 as if he thought it obvious.
Robot dogs weren't good for heart to hearts. It probably didn't help that K9 had a pile of wires where his should be.
"Sometimes it takes him three decades," muttered Sarah Jane.
"Irrelevant," K9 scoffed.
Maybe it was to a tin dog that had been out of commission half the time and didn't have a grasp of the concept, but it hadn't been for her. Not by a long shot. Sarah Jane briefly considered calling the Brigadier, but then he would probably want to get UNIT involved, and it had been a very long time since the Doctor had come into contact with them.
Still, it would be nice to get some sympathy.
What was he thinking, travelling with that girl? It honestly didn't bother her that he had taken another companion. No doubt he'd had dozens since she'd left. The fact that he cared so much for her did. Rose matched him, any idiot could see that, but she was so young. No more than nineteen or twenty. She had her entire life spread out before her, and the Doctor had waltzed in far too soon. Sarah Jane knew all too well what happened to a former companion of the Doctor. Up to their ears in abandonment, bitterness and danger. She didn't want to see this girl end up the same way. The way he looked at her, though…he wouldn't just leave Rose behind. She'd be taken from him, eventually. It was only a matter of time.
"Wrong lane, Mistress," K9 observed.
Sarah Jane was forced to swerve into the next lane over to a symphony of honks. K9 twitched what counted as his tail, evidently pleased with himself. Sarah Jane shook her head to clear it. It was no use trying to persuade the Doctor otherwise where Rose was concerned.
"I waited," she told K9. "All those years, I did nothing. I waited, like some silly little girl."
"Previous observations conclude waiting does not help."
It was the slap to the face that she needed. Waiting didn't help. She'd save the world, one last time, then get around to her life.
~o0o~
The next morning dawned bright and clear, and Sarah Jane met up with the TARDIS crew outside the school. Mickey gave her an awkward little wave, the Doctor greeted her warmly, and Rose tossed her a stiff 'hello.'
"Rose and Sarah, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside. Here, you might need this," the Doctor said, handing the screwdriver off to her. "Mickey, surveillance. I want you outside."
Mickey's face fell, and once again Sarah Jane felt a twinge of pity for him. 'Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!' Poor thing.
"Just stand outside?" he asked, looking torn between wanting to be seen as brave and not wanting to run into the bat-teachers again.
"Here, take these," she said, tossing him the car keys. "You can keep K9 company."
"Don't forget to leave the window open a crack," said the Doctor cheekily over his shoulder.
"But he's metal!"
"I didn't mean for him!"
"What're you going to do?" asked Rose.
"It's time I had a word with Mr. Finch," he replied.
They headed for the Maths room at a brisk pace. Rose was determinedly ignoring Sarah Jane, as if by not looking at her, she could pretend the older woman didn't exist. Sarah Jane ignored her, too. It was easier that way.
No one paid them any mind as they entered the classroom. Rose closed the door, and Sarah Jane got to work with the computer. Five minutes later, and she hadn't made any progress.
"It's not working," she said.
"Give it to me," Rose snapped, taking the screwdriver from her.
"Used to work first time in my day," she commented acidly.
"Well, things were a lot simpler back then."
Yet another Dark Ages comment. She wasn't that old, was she? Sarah Jane took a deep breath, and mentally reviewed the speech she'd put together in her head when she had been unable to sleep.
"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?"
"I've got a feeling you're about to," she replied.
"I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor can be, and I don't want you to feel I'm intruding," she said.
"I don't feel threatened by you, if that's what you mean."
"Right. Good," she said, feeling the little chat she'd had in mind collapse around her ears. The Rose in her head had been a little less stubborn. She should have known. The Doctor didn't travel with any less. "Because I'm not interested in picking up where we left off."
"No? With the big sad eyes and the robot dog? What else were you doing last night?" Rose asked testily, stopping her work with the computer and frowning.
"I was just saying how hard it was adjusting to life back on Earth," began Sarah Jane, but Rose cut her off.
"The thing is, when you two met they'd only just got rid of rationing. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for you."
Sarah Jane bristled. 1974 was hardly 'just got rid of rationing,' thank you very much!
"I had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe."
"Try me," Rose challenged.
Childishly, she answered.
"Mummies."
"I've met ghosts."
"Robots. Lots of robots."
"Slitheen. In Downing Street."
"Daleks!"
"Met the emporer."
"Ant-matter monsters."
"Gas-mask zombies."
"Real, living dinosaurs."
"Real, living werewolves."
"The Loch Ness Monster!"
For the first time, Rose stopped to draw breath. "Really?"
They looked at each other for a long, awkward moment that seemed to stretch out. Sarah Jane inwardly cursed herself. So much for giving her a bit of advice.
"Listen to us," Rose said softly. "It's like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over the Doctor. With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go, 'what?' and he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?"
She smiled fondly, remembering a very different man, multi-colored scarf flapping along behind him, technobabbling away and expecting a reply the moment he finished.
"All the time. Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?" she asked, remembering the romance he'd always had with his ship.
"Yeah! Yeah, he does. I'm like, do you two want to be alone?" Rose said with a giggle.
The broken awkwardness combined with the last comment pushed Sarah Jane over the edge, and soon the two were laughing hysterically, both trying to form sentences but failing miserably.
"How's it going?" asked the Doctor.
This, of course, only served to make them laugh even harder. The confused Time Lord lingered in the doorway, affronted.
"What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these."
His gaze lingered on the lack of progress while they just continued to shriek. Sarah Jane couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed like this.
"What? Stop it!"
She and Rose took a few calming breaths, and deftly avoided looking at each other for fear of starting up again. The Doctor's face relaxed.
"Thank you. Let's get to work."
Rubbing his hands together, he sprang into action, snatching the sonic screwdriver from Rose's hands and kneeling down beside the CPU to take a look.
He didn't have any better luck than Sarah Jane and Rose, so he began to mess with the wiring. The two women backed up to the doorway and just watched him work.
"So what did you do, before?" Sarah Jane asked.
Now that she'd established a connection, she couldn't resist finding out more about Rose.
"I worked at Henriks."
The department store? Sarah Jane tried not to let the surprise show on her face. She'd expected someone as level-headed as Rose to have gone further, done more. Maybe she hadn't like that before.
"How'd you meet him?"
"The Nestene Consciousness was trying to take over Earth," Rose explained. "It controls plastic, y'know? Not good news when you work in a store with loads of mannequins. He showed up just in time."
Sarah Jane smiled. "He tends to do that."
"What about you?" asked Rose.
"I'm a reporter," Sarah Jane said. "On a hunch, I got into a top secret facility using my aunt's name and the whole thing sort of spiraled from there. I was suspicious of the Doctor, so I snuck on board the TARDIS."
Rose gave a low whistle. "Did it still look like a police box, then?"
"Yeah."
"Weird hunch."
She nodded with a laugh. "Best hunch I ever followed."
Before they could continue the conversation, the loudspeaker jerked to life with a crackle.
"All pupils to class immediately. And would all members of staff congregate in the staff room?"
"Rose, don't let them in," the Doctor said urgently, returning to his tinkering.
Rose took off down the hall. Sarah Jane rejoined the Doctor at the computer, brow crinkling.
"I can't shift it!" he said.
"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything," Sarah Jane said, leaning closer.
If the screwdriver wasn't working, there was nothing they could do. What on Earth were they doing to those children that would need to be protected from technology that wouldn't be invented for five thousand years?
"Anything except a deadlock seal," the Doctor explained. "There's got to be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?"
He struck the console in a bout of frustration, and miraculously, a series of strange symbols appeared on the screen.
"You wanted the program? There it is."
"Some sort of code," he muttered under his breath.
Sarah Jane could practically see the gears turning in his head. The code, of course, made no sense to her. She'd failed her Maths final when she was eighteen, and alien math hadn't even been in the curriculum.
"No," he said. "No, it can't be."
"Can't be what?" she asked, just as Rose skidded back into the room, breathing heavily.
"I stopped some of them," she reported.
"The Skasis Paradigm. They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."
"The Skasis what?"
"The God maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."
Sarah Jane swallowed. She'd seen a thousand times over that there was no species in the universe that could safely wield that kind of power. Even the Time Lords had fallen prey to it in the end.
"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?" asked Rose.
"Yes. And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil. That oil from the kitchens, it works as a, as a conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer."
His eyes flicked over the numbers scrolling across the screen as he tried to make sense of it.
"But that oil's on the chips," said Rose, horror struck. "I've been eating them."
"What's fifty-nine times thirty-five?"
"Two thousand and sixty five," she said automatically. Then, her expression fell. "Oh my God."
"But why use children?" Sarah Jane asked. Surely it would be less strange for an adult to be tired and ill then children. "Can't they use adults?"
"No, it's got to be children. The God maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code, they're using their souls."
The door reopened, but it wasn't a friend to enter this time. Finch strode in, a disgusting self-satisfied smirk playing on his features. It wasn't a good look. Sarah Jane's lips pursed.
"Let the lesson begin," he said sleekly, fixing his attention on the Doctor. "Think of it, Doctor. With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."
"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mister Finch? Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are."
"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order? Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."
"What, by someone like you?" the Doctor challenged.
"No, someone like you. The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a god at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Assinta. Your own people, Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords reborn."
The Doctor's face twisted, and Sarah Jane's heart wrenched. Sensing danger, she stepped in. She wasn't sure what his reaction to that kind of news would be.
"Doctor, don't listen to him," she urged, but he didn't even look at her.
"And you could be with him throughout eternity. Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die," Finch said. Sarah Jane simply glared at him. Seeing that it wasn't going to work, he turned back to the Doctor. "Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us."
"I could save everyone," he said slowly.
Every unpreventable death was reflected in his eyes. Finch's smile widened further. Rose looked back and forth between the two, eyes wide.
"Yes."
"I could stop the war."
And for a moment, Sarah Jane could see the broken-in leather jacket and hear the northern accent in his voice. Fury bubbled in her chest. He didn't need to go back!
"No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends," she said, unwittingly echoing him.
Finch's hold over him snapped and the Doctor hefted the chair beside him at the screen. Glass spread everywhere.
"Out."
Sarah Jane and Rose sprinted out of the door at top speed. The running was something that she certainly didn't miss. Lungs searing, Sarah Jane pushed herself even faster down the stairs where they ran into Mickey.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Rose gave him the quick version between gasps for breath as they all started to run towards the cafeteria.
"Are they my teachers?" gasped the boy who'd been with Mickey.
"Yeah," the Doctor replied. "Sorry."
Rather than being upset, the boy looked rather excited at the prospect.
Finch, the only one left in his human form, gave the orders.
"We need the Doctor alive. As for the others, you can feast."
The Krillitanes dove. Sarah Jane ducked beneath a table as quickly as she could. Rose had the same idea, but she had to drag Mickey after her. He was frozen in shock. The Doctor lifted up a chair and started swinging desperately at the monsters, trying to protect them. The student gave a little whimper. Sarah Jane grabbed his hand to calm him, and also shield. A laser bolt flew out of nowhere and took out one of the Krillitanes.
"K9!"
They scrambled out from under the table and ran to the Doctor's side.
"Suggest engaging running mode, Mistress," K9 said, and had it been another, less deadly, situation, she would have laughed.
"Come on! K9, hold them back."
"Affirmative, Master. Maximum defense mode."
They sprinted out of the cafeteria. Sarah Jane didn't want to leave K9 behind, but it wasn't like they had much of a choice. Lungs burning, she dug into the last reserves of her strength and managed to catch up with the much younger humans (and physically younger alien) as they entered the physics classroom.
"It's the oil. Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil. That's it!" The Doctor cried. Sarah Jane smiled. She missed the eureka moments. "They've changed their physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them. How much was there in the kitchens?"
"Barrels of it," Rose said.
The door crashed as the Krillitanes struggled to break it down. Even the modifications on the lock courtesy of the sonic screwdriver wouldn't be enough to hold them back for long.
":Okay, we need to get to the kitchens. Mickey?"
"What now, hold the coats?" the boy asked sarcastically.
"Get all the children unplugged and out of the school. Now then, bats, bats, bats. How do we fight bats?"
The schoolboy they'd brought along with them looked at the Doctor with a long-suffering stare before punching the fire alarm near the door. A screeching noise emitted from the speakers. Sarah Jane resisted the urge to pat the boy on the back. Very few people had the sense about them to pull off something like that.
They pushed past the struggling Krillitanes and ran back to the cafeteria to locate K9. To Sarah Jane's relief, he motored out to greet them. If he could smile, he would no doubt be smiling smugly.
"Master."
"Come on, boy. Good boy."
They wrenched open the door to the kitchens and dashed inside. Sarah Jane hadn't been living a quiet life, but this was utterly exhausting. The Doctor didn't even spare a moment to breathe before scrambling to remove the top of the oil barrels.
"They've been deadlock sealed," he said, pounding on the top in frustration. "Finch must've done that. I can't open them."
K9, as always, was quick to offer an alternative solution. "The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing."
The Doctor struggled with himself for a moment.
"Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, stay with me."
Rose, the boy and Sarah Jane followed orders and headed out the back doors. Sarah Jane lingered near the exit, reluctant to leave the Doctor alone in the school.
Only a few minutes had passed when he launched himself out of the door and used the sonic screwdriver to lock it. She looked down, but K9 was nowhere to be found.
"Where's K9?" she asked. His jaw tightened.
"We need to run."
"Where is he?" she shouted. "What have you done?"
He pulled her along beside him into the crowd of students; apparently Mickey had been successful at getting them out. Sarah Jane's mind was elsewhere, with a brave little tin dog without a heart.
The school exploded in a shower of paper that flew from the windows. The kids started to cheer, but she didn't pay attention.
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
"It's all right," she said, putting on a brave face. "He was just a daft metal dog. It's fine, really."
She choked on the last word and buried her face in his chest. K9 represented her life with him all those years ago. It was like being left in Aberdeen all over again.
~o0o~
An hour later, her car idling in the nearest parking lot, Sarah Jane strode through the park, the beauty of the flowers completely lost on her. Her eyes were fixed on the glorious blue box—gateway to the universe.
"Cup of tea?" The Doctor asked with a grin.
She followed him into the console room, which was back to the same simple design that it had worn during his ninth incarnation.
"You've redecorated," she said.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"Oh, I-I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but er, yeah. It'll do."
She missed the old wooden paneling and warm colors, but that wasn't him anymore, and it was high time she realized that.
"I love it," said Rose, fondly running a hand over the console in—Sarah Jane realized with a grin—a mockery of how he usually did.
"Hey, you," she greeted, "what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?"
Rose shrugged helplessly, and the Doctor mouthed seventeen-thousand and three-hundred forty-three.
"No idea. It's gone now. The oil's faded," she replied.
"But you're still clever. More than a match for him," she said, realizing that she truly believed it. Rose Tyler was exactly what the Doctor needed.
"You and me both," she said. "Doctor?"
The Doctor grimaced slightly. "Er, we're about to head off, but…you could come with us."
The yes was on her lips before she even thought about it. For so many years she'd dreamed about hearing those very words, but her time for traveling was over. Besides, she thought wryly, they'd probably prefer to be alone.
"No. I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."
Better late than never, right? She smiled tightly.
"Can I come?" Sarah Jane gave Mickey an odd look. She liked him well enough, but it was an odd request. "No, not with you, I mean with you. Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there."
The Doctor looked doubtfully at Rose, who looked as if her idea of a cozy evening had been stomped upon. Sarah Jane, though, couldn't help but vouch for the 'tin dog.'
"Oh, go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board."
He considered it for a moment. "Okay then, I could do with a laugh."
Rather than looking affronted, Mickey just rolled his eyes. Sarah Jane gave the Doctor a disapproving look, but he ignored it.
"Rose, is that okay?" asked Mickey.
The girl's expression tightened, but she agreed anyway. "No, great. Why not?"
"Well, I'd better go," said Sarah Jane.
Rose came closer to say her own goodbye. Sarah Jane had a feeling that she knew what was coming.
"What do I do?" she asked helplessly. "Do I stay with him?"
She considered Rose for a moment before answering. "Yes. Some things are worth getting your heart broken for. Find me, if you need to, one day. Find me."
She hugged the Doctor's newest companion and waved to Mickey before leaving the TARDIS for the last time.
" It's daft, but I haven't ever thanked you for that time. And like I said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," she told the Doctor.
He smiled, and stuffed his hands awkwardly in his pockets. Goodbyes had never been something he was good at. Sarah Jane gave him a warm smile to set him at ease.
"Something to tell the grandkids."
"Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now," she said automatically.
He flushed, and she did too.
"Right. Yes, sorry. I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't? There hasn't been anyone? You know…"
She gave a mischievous smile.
"Well, there was this one guy. I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow," she said. "Goodbye, Doctor."
"Oh, it's not goodbye," he said offhandedly.
Her throat tightened. She needed to hear it, just once.
"Do say it. Please. This time. Say it."
"Goodbye, my Sarah Jane. "
He scooped her up in his arms, lifting her off the ground and spinning her in a circle before setting her back down on the ground. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.
The Doctor set her down and went back inside the TARDIS. She turned her back. If she looked, she'd throw herself at the door and beg to be let back inside. The familiar whirring noise began, and the lump in her throat grew even bigger.
Finally, she had to turn around. It vanished before her eyes, leaving K9 standing behind it.
"K9!" she cried.
"Mistress," he greeted.
"But you were blown up."
"The Master rebuilt me. My systems are much improved with new undetectable hyperlink facilities."
The technobabble made her grin. Just like his master, that one.
"Oh, he replaced you with a brand new model."
"Affirmative."
"Yeah, he does that. Come on, you. Home. We've got work to do."
What a piece for the newspaper this would make.
"Affirmative."
And just like three decades before, she walked away from the spot the TARDIS had been with a tin dog at her side, promising to lead her own life at last.
This time, she was going to keep that promise.
Thanks for taking this journey with Sarah Jane and I! I'm going to be back with a new Doctor Who story next week (no spoilers, but it's called Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds) if you want to stick with me.
