CHAPTER SIX

The Doctor stood in front of Sarah's workbench in the attic. He closed his eyes because he couldn't concentrate on the device he was trying to construct. From across the room, Sarah looked up from her desktop computer as she sensed his frustration. She turned around and looked at him, watching his expressions as he looked at the equipment.

'What are you working on?' she finally asked.

'Nothing.' He frowned as the piece of equipment literally fell apart in his hands. 'Well, really nothing now.' He threw the remnants onto the table as he sighed.

Sarah could sense more than just simple frustration coming from him. She stood up and walked over to stand beside him. 'Doctor?' she asked as she put a hand on his arm.

The Doctor sighed, hanging his head. 'Gallifrey's gone, Sarah.' He turned to look at her, then looked down at the floor again. 'I hated their rules and restrictions, but at least I knew they were there.'

She moved her hand to his shoulder and gently turned him towards her. She looked into his eyes and saw nothing but grief. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her. She felt his memories float to the surface, but unlike a standard memory that they both shared, this was as if he was taking her on a tour.

..

They stood on the hillside looking across towards the mountains of Solace and Solitude. He looked down at their joined hands, then looked up and saw her smile. 'It's beautiful,' she admitted.

'I used to play on these hills as a young boy. My mentor would bring me up here to concentrate on the games that they taught us.'

'Mental games?' she asked.

He nodded, then looked up at the star filled sky. He pointed at one of the nearby constellations, 'See that? Karn is in that star cluster.'

She leaned into his shoulder, 'You said it was near here.'

He sat down in the grass and tugged on her hand until she was sitting beside him. He leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. 'They constantly involved themselves in my life, especially after my exile and during the time I was with you. I hated them for that.'

'You were never shy about your feelings towards them.'

'Their self-righteous non-interference finally caught up with them in the end, but I never expected it to happen this way. I always thought that if I wanted to come back, it would be here, and I could do it on my own terms.' He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'I used to come here all the time when I needed to focus.' He looked over at her. 'After they forced me to leave you, I hoped to find some clarity and peace out here.'

She lay back in the grass beside him, folding her hands across her stomach. She turned to look at him before looking back up at the sky. 'Did it help?' she asked softly.

He shook his head. 'No.' He took a deep breath. 'I tuned into our imprint, trying to draw some comfort from it, but other than knowing it was there, the distance was too much for us to have any sort of communication or sharing.'

She rolled over onto her side and propped herself up on one elbow, putting her other hand against his chest. 'I'm sorry.'

He took one hand from behind his head and covered her hand. 'Don't be sorry, it was want they wanted. They called me back because they wanted us separated. I really hated them for that. I was ridiculed because I failed to find someone to share the imprint with, and then when I did, it wasn't good enough for them.' His gaze locked with Sarah's. 'I'm sorry I never got to bring you here properly.'

He took a deep breath before continuing. 'Before you, I had other companions that came here and the Time Lords wiped their memory. I couldn't risk that happening with you.' He reached up and cupped her cheek with his hand. 'You were too important to me. Still are. The thought of not being connected to you...' he trailed off.

Sarah put her head down on his shoulder. 'Not something you have to worry about now. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere.'

..

Back in Sarah's attic, she wrapped her arms around the Doctor's waist and rested her head against his chest. 'I mean it Doctor, I'm not going anywhere.'

He held her to him. 'Thank you, Sarah. Just being here, with you, well, I'm not sure I'd be able to handle this without you. I'm sorry I'm such a pain.

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. 'You've been through a lot, Doctor. I'm just glad you're actually talking to me about it.' She pulled back and gave him a sly smile. 'Before, you just would've gotten all moody and stalked around.'

'I would not!' He defended, then met her gaze. 'Well, maybe a little. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I'm not him anymore.'

'You're you. That's all I've ever asked.'

He finally smiled as he leaned in and kissed her forehead, tightening his arms around her.

~!~!~!~

The Doctor crossed Sarah's yard towards the TARDIS, key in hand. He'd been keeping essentially what he considered "human standard" hours, eating and even sleeping more than he would have under other circumstances. If things had been normal, he would have been pulling energy from the TARDIS, but without it, his energy had to be derived like any other being, through nourishment and sleep.

The biggest part of him looked forward to going back to the TARDIS and the comfort of the familiar touch ever present against his mind. He glanced back towards the house and up to the attic where he knew Sarah currently was. A tinge of regret went through him. While the slow path wasn't his preferred method of existence, he had to admit he enjoyed the time he'd been able to spend with Sarah.

While the events of the war still bothered him, and he knew they always would, Sarah's presence and her acceptance made it easier to keep going, against what he would've expected. During the war, he'd made peace with knowing that he wouldn't survive the final battle. He never expected to wake up alive, much less wake up alive to find Sarah taking care of him, especially given that he was forced to break her heart when he broke their imprint.

He reached out to put the key in the TARDIS door and instantly yanked his hand back as an electrical current jumped across his hand. Steeling himself, he rattled the door, but it still didn't open. With a frown, he went to kick the door, but stopped just short. 'Fine,' he said with a sigh. 'Have it your way.'

~!~!~!~

Sarah frowned as she watched Mr. Smith's display. 'How long before they arrive?' she asked.

'Approximately two and half hours, Sarah Jane,' the Xylok responded.

Sarah rubbed the back of her neck absently, her mind running through the information Mr. Smith had given her. 'Send them a message that I will be at the rendezvous point as requested.'

She jumped and whirled around as the attic door slammed behind her. 'TARDIS still won't let me in,' the Doctor muttered. 'How long could her repairs possibly take? It's been almost three months. I could've visited half the universe by now, and she's still not done.'

She took one step towards him, but then stopped as she thought better of it. 'You can't force her, Doctor. She'll let you in when she's good and ready. She must have a reason.'

'Which brings up a really good point. We landed in an alley, how did the TARDIS get into your back garden?'

Sarah gave him a small smile. 'She allowed me to pilot her here. I needed her to be in a safe place, but she knew she needed that too.'

He sighed, but didn't say anything else. 'I don't like this living day to day in a straight line, Sarah Jane. It's boring.' He walked across to the sofa and flopped down. 'How do you humans stand it?'

'Not as if we have much of a choice,' she said under her breath. She looked over at him and tried to reassure him. 'I'll talk to the TARDIS later, see if she'll tell me anything.'

He rolled his eyes. 'You females, always sticking together.'

Sarah laughed at his response before sobering again. 'Meanwhile, I have something important that's come up.'

'Is that so? Anything interesting?'

'Vraxians.'

At that, he stood up and came to stand beside her. 'Never good news. Where, when?'

'Just outside of town in a couple of hours. According to what Mr. Smith was able to determine, they want to essentially scrape the entire Earth's crust to a depth of fifty metres so that they can analyse the mineral content in the hope of brokering an agreement to purchase the planet on behalf of their mining corporation.'

'That's ridiculous.'

Sarah nodded, 'Yes, well, you know how Vraxians are.'

'How'd they get in contact with you?' the Doctor asked.

'Actually, that may have been my doing, Doctor.' Mr. Smith offered. 'I was scanning through the standard subspace signals and managed to eavesdrop on one of their communications. Based on Sarah Jane's instructions, I contacted them as an Earth delegation representative.'

He turned to her, 'I'm going with you.'

'You don't need to. Besides, they requested that I come alone, and I can handle...'

He cut her off. 'You and I both know what the Vraxians are like. I won't let them see me, but I don't trust them and I don't want you out there by yourself.'

She looked down as she felt him reach out and entwine his fingers through hers. She looked up at him and smiled. 'Thank you.'

~!~!~!~

Sarah put her hands on her hips and looked around as the Vraxian vanished in front of her. She took a deep breath and wondered slightly whether the whole confrontation had ended too quickly. Perhaps too easily as well. It wasn't like the Vraxians to agree to move on without argument.

There was no time for her to react as the sound of a blaster firing from behind her echoed in her ears.

Sarah felt the powerful sting against her back and shoulder even as the force of the blaster's discharge knocked her towards the ground. Despite being able to think and reason clearly, her body froze, completely unable to move. She couldn't even bring her hands up to protect her face, to say nothing of stopping the fall.

She hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her. She struggled to force air into her lungs, and absently noted that several of the small rocks that embedded themselves into her cheek were quite sharp. The lack of oxygen finally got to her aching lungs. The last thing she saw as her eyes closed was a pair of boots running towards her at full speed.

~!~!~!~