==== ==== EPISODE 3 ==== ====

{ In which the Doctor re-discovers his sense of adventure and Harry develops a paranoia regarding mirrors. }

"It's all right.", Harry told the Warrant Officer. After all, it appeared that the mirror UNIT had found during an earlier investigation was nothing out of the ordinary. Either the one the Doctor had discovered at the minister's place had been very different from this one – or there was little point in chasing after mirrors altogether.

But just as he and Benton turned and walked away, the seemingly lifeless reflection in the mirror remained, then developed a life of its own. The image of Harry Sullivan watched them walk away with a malicious glare in its eyes.

The two however, having failed to notice the anomaly, left the room without turning back and as Benton flicked off the lights, nothing could be seen any more. Not the mirror, and not the figure within it. They shut the door behind them, leaving the storage in absolute darkness.

==== ==== Sarah-Jane Smith ==== ====

A few days later Harry called the former journalist to tell her that UNIT has done some investigating about the minister's mirror and the person who stole it. Even though the secretary had claimed that the antique piece should have been picked up that day for restoration, it had never arrived at its destination. But whoever the stranger was who attacked the Doctor, he had known of the arrangement and made use of it in order to enter and leave the building unhindered. And although UNIT had a somewhat vague description of a man dressed in black, so far his whereabouts, origin or intention remained unknown.
But not every lead had gone cold. The minister himself, had unexpectedly turned up again. So far, he was not up for a thorough questioning, but at least his office was not without an occupant any more.
As for mirrors, however, Harry had argued with Sarah over the usefulness of tracking down the minister's mirror, now that the man himself was back. It could be but a red herring and have nothing to do with the cases at all. Clever deduction or not, the object might have just been around at the time of his vanishing without actually playing a part in it, but Sarah kept telling her friend that there was something they were not seeing yet. He just had to trust her investigator's instinct. Or better yet, he could hand the matter back to the Brigadier once he had returned from Geneva. Harry was just not cut out for this kind of work, although he always tried his best.

Sarah listened to his news with great interest every time he rang her up. And in return for the latest updates from UNIT, she always told him something about her and the Doctor's new lives at the university.
It was funny in a sense, because for once she had absolutely nothing unusual to report. She was a first semester student like any other, went to the open day events like any other, and began to study like any other. The only difference was that she felt less like a student and more like an investigator undercover – but she was getting used to the pace and duties of a student's life over time. She had never imagined that she would be welcomed by the student body as open-heartedly as she was and it was a great feeling to be among people of intellect and understanding. Three weeks in, and the former journalist found herself enjoying the almost daily trips to the university of Amberton. However, even though she had a very easy time to make friends almost wherever she went, Sarah knew surprisingly little about her fellow students.

The reason for that was probably the simple fact that she spent the majority of her time at the Doctor's side in her new function as his assistant. This meant that as long as she was not running errands for him and as long as she was not sitting in another professor's lecture, she could either be found in the Doctor's office taking care of some forms or student's request, or walking around the campus with him. Admittedly, Sarah was often within his proximity even on days where there were not as many duties to attend to. But it was not for the reason alone that she had begun to feel a little protective about him: His students would agree with Sarah any time that he was great company. He was quite popular among the student body for his humorous, happy-go-lucky nature and his ability to make dusty old topics sound interesting again.

Over time, and whenever his assistant found that it did not help much to prod him for more stray memories of the man he really was, Sarah told the Doctor about some of the cases she had investigated in the past. Things that had happened on Earth and had nothing to do with UNIT; Things alien life had never been involved in. Not every case Sarah had ever worked on had ended in a big revelation, but her older friend was almost always listening with great curiosity nonetheless – save for a few instances where he was working on something which required his full attention, of course. Sometimes, he would point out to her little details and conclusions she had not drawn at the time she used to work on the articles mentioned, but still Sarah enjoyed to challenge his intellect with all these little discoveries she had made around Great Britain: He had a clever remark to almost anything.

Things had settled into a daily routine she had never believed the Doctor would ever submit himself to. Arriving at the university at half past seven in the morning, listening to two lectures, a bit of spare time to work on other things, lunch at eleven, office time, then more lectures until five in the afternoon and some more studying until seven, when she would eventually part ways with him until the next day. Although courses and appointments varied throughout the week, it was a steady order and the Doctor, whom she knew as someone who was a mortal enemy of this, had somehow come to accept it. Same for the bureaucracy, responsibilities, and so-called petty little problems he had to deal with everyday.

But right now, it was probably for the better like this. She had an easy time keeping an eye on him, Harry was not as much under pressure to think of a solution to his current state and, as Sarah found, it was nice to have a bit of normality for once.

Yet there was change in the air.

On a Wednesday afternoon, Sarah had found in their office the documents which the Doctor should have taken with him to the lecture he was holding just at that time. Since he must have forgotten them and she had a bit of spare time, his assistant hurried across the campus to help him out. But as she arrived at the lecture room, she found the door standing wide open. Already before stepping in, Sarah saw that the professor for planetary sciences was not where she had expected him to be. What was worse, was that aside from a handful of students, who were using the room as a quiet place for studying, his listeners were absent as well.

"Where's Dr. Smith..?", Sarah asked into the room, hoping for an answer from someone. Even after several weeks, she did not like to use his makeshift name, but the other students knew him only by this one.

A girl about her own age came towards her down the stairs with an upset look on her face. Sarah recognized her, because she had bumped into her frequently ever since she had joined the student body. The slightly younger woman shared most of her courses with her and had helped her out on a few occasions as well. She had even been around on the day Sarah had found the Doctor at the university. Her name was Clara... although Sarah had not yet memorized her last name. Osgood, Oswald or something the like…

"You're supposed to know where your uncle is, don't you?", asked Clara reproachful. Her voice had an unpleasant sour tone.

"Uh..." The professor's assistant lost her current train of thought for a moment when she heard her own words out of someone else's mouth. On a previous occasion, the fellow student had curiously asked why a first semester student was so keen on working with a professor and Sarah – since she had looked for a cheap and quick explanation – had carelessly lied that the Doctor was her uncle. It had been the last name which made that seem so obvious. She sort of regretted it now, because apparently the lie had stuck with Clara, and that meant it was already spreading through the highly active university grapevine.

While Sarah fought down the urge to smack herself on the forehead, Clara crossed her arms, sighed, and then finally explained to her what had happened in the lecture hall. "He's called the lecture off.", she said. "Came in, struggled for about 10 minutes to stay focused on today's topic and then just decided… that it was too beautiful a day to spend inside." As she spoke, Clara shook her head in disbelief of the professor's neglect of his responsibilities of teaching.

"Oh, not again..." The assistant rolled her eyes. A similar thing had happened once before already, barely a week ago, with a different class of his. She had accepted it back then as something he had done on whim, but if he had any intention to make this a habit, he could be heading into serious trouble.

"Again?", Clara wondered for a short moment, but then went straight back to topic "You know, you should give him a ticking-off some time. This isn't school; some of us actually want to learn something."

Sarah nodded. "Oh, I will talk to him right away. And if he isn't around for next week's lecture, I'll drag him into the room myself!" She sided with her fellow student on the topic. University was voluntarily – and although there were plenty of lazy students around, the Doctor was not necessarily making more friends by giving them some time off.

Probably with the image of Sarah dragging the much taller man into the room by his ear on her mind, Clara smiled at her. "You do that.", she replied.

"I'll be seeing you at Politics then." Before walking back out of the lecture hall, Sarah told her good-bye very briefly. They would be sitting next to each other in the same lecture later today, anyway.