Chapter 2 – The Final Goodbye
The second The Doctor re-entered her TARDIS, she took a moment to regain her composure. Leaning against the closed door of her time ship, the raven haired woman looked up towards the dark ceiling and let out a loud sigh. She wasn't expecting Sarah Jane to be so positive in the face of her own mortality. Banging the back of her head a couple of times against the wooden door, The Doctor wondered if she would be so stoic in the face of death. True she had regenerated several times in the course of her life but wasn't exactly the same as permanent death. Her last change was probably the closest she had come and had required a little trickery to see her through. For a brief period though The Doctor had been dead and Eleven had faced it with the same dignity that Sarah Jane was showing. Maybe he had been a better person than The Doctor gave him credit for or perhaps he was calm because he knew that he had an escape plan.
Pushing all of that aside for another time, the Time Lady quickly marched towards the console and began fiddling with the settings. Truthfully she had forgotten that Clyde and Rani were restricted to the planet so her original plan had to be scrapped. A small smile came to her face, "Creative and clever", she chuckled to herself and began to set the co-ordinates, "Two words often used to describe me", she added and pulled a couple of levers.
"Still modest as ever", the weak voice of Sarah Jane Smith echoed endlessly through the TARDIS. It was now that The Doctor noticed how frail the brunette looked. She was being pushed in a wheelchair by Luke with an oxygen tank attached to the back of the seat. Her clothes might have hung loosely from her skinny frame but there was thing that hadn't changed. Sarah Jane still retained the same sense of wonder as she had done when she first stepped into the TARDIS all those years ago, "You've redecorated again", she took in the steam punk inspired console room.
"Not bad is it", The Doctor fixed her best smile to her face, "can't take all the credit though, the old girl did most of the work". With the exception of Sky, this wasn't the first time in the TARDIS for the rest of the Bannerman Road gang. They still marvelled at the 'bigger on the inside' time ship and took a few moments to drink in the new interior, "Right then you lot", The Doctor quickly pulled on a switch, "one sunny day coming up".
The TARDIS lurched into life and the familiar groaning sound accompanied the movement of the time rotor. It wasn't a long trip and it felt like only a few seconds had passed before the Time Lady declared they had arrived, "Doctor I still don't understand how you're going to bypass the Judoon's travel restriction", Rani said with a nervous quiver to her voice.
The Time Lady gave the dark haired woman an enigmatic smile, "My dear Miss Chandra", she began, reaching the doors to her ship, "it's hard to punish you when you haven't even left London". She threw the doors open and as promised, bright rays of sunshine poured into the ship. The Doctor led the group outside and into a large open field. Behind the TARDIS was a forest populated with tall, green trees and in front of them was a small ridge.
Approaching the edge, the group could see into the valley below. There were more fields and trees in the valley below and in the far distance was a river meandering across the landscape, "Welcome to Hampstead Heath, circa 100 BC", the Time Lady declared. She pointed out a small settlement next to the river The Doctor continued, "That down there is the village that will one day become the City of London. I would've preferred to travel a couple hundred years further on in time but I didn't want to bump into any Romans".
"Why, what's wrong with the Romans?" Sky asked curiously. The young teen was taking her journey over two thousand years into the past in her stride.
"Nothing wrong with the Romans themselves", The Doctor answered, "I'm just not very popular with them, something to do with a fire, Emperor Nero and a fiddle". The Time Lady shrugged, "Not my fault that a parasitic race chose to occupy Rome". She shook her head as the children gaped open mouthed in her direction, "But that's a story for another time, feel free to explore just try not to step on too many plants in the area".
"Will that change the course of history?" Clyde stated nervously.
The Doctor snorted, "Hardly, I just don't think you should trample all over this beautiful scenery". The comment garnered a small, weak chuckle from Sarah Jane "Go on, Sarah and I will be fine alone for a few minutes". Reluctantly the children walked away and into the forest behind the TARDIS. The Doctor smiled as Luke took charge of the group and led them deeper into the trees, "They're a good bunch of kids", the dark haired woman smiled and sat cross legged next to Sarah Jane's wheelchair.
"They're hardly kids anymore Doctor", Sarah Jane replied, "Luke's about the same age I was when I first started travelling with you". The Doctor nodded but offered not verbal reply to the statement. Instead the pair sat silently and drunk in the view, "I can still see the city", Sarah continued, "over there is the London Eye and that's where the Shard will be", she pointed to various spots on the landscape.
The Doctor pointed somewhere too, "Over there is where the Senate building of the Fourth Holy Roman Empire will be situated, little bit after your time". Sarah giggled softly to herself, "Really impressive architecture, it's an upside down pyramid of all things".
"Sounds like an interesting future", she sighed, "shame I won't get to witness it", she added sadly.
"To be fair that is about ten thousand years into your future so no one alive now will", it took The Doctor a few moments to realise the hidden meaning behind Sarah Jane's comment, "Oh, I see what you mean now", she added apologetically.
"Please don't get maudlin on me now Doctor", Sarah Jane pleaded with a small tear in her eye. She quickly wiped it away to prevent The Doctor was seeing how upset she truly was. Even though she had accepted death, that didn't mean that she happy with how things had turned out. "Why did you come Doctor?" she asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "you don't particularly like endings let alone unhappy ones like this".
The Doctor took a few moments to think of an adequate response to Sarah Jane's question. The Time Lady idly plucked a few blades out of the ground, "Remember Alistair's passing?" she stating, referencing Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's death a few years ago. Sarah Jane nodded slowly and allowed the Time Lady to continue, "His death hit me pretty hard but I found that it more painful not getting a chance to say goodbye". She released the blades of grass she had pulled out the ground and allowed them to flutter away in the breeze. The Doctor then looked Sarah Jane directly in the eyes, "I couldn't allow that to happen again, not with you", she added firmly.
By now the tears were flowing freely from the brunette. She had met a few incarnations of The Doctor before, some of them were better at expressing what was on their minds than others and this Doctor appeared to be better than most. What she liked was the honesty from the Time Lady, not all regenerations of The Doctor were quite as open, "I loved you, did you know that", the journalist turned alien hunter continued, "no one ever measured up to you in comparison".
"Doesn't surprise me", The Doctor chuckled with a cocky smile on her face. Sarah Jane responded with a small laugh of her own and it wasn't long before the two women descended into hysterics. The laughter continued for several moments until a loud, hacking cough snapped the pair back to reality. The Doctor carefully removed the oxygen mask from its holder on the back of the chair and offered it to her former companion.
Taking a few deep breathes of oxygen, Sarah Jane's cough gradually subsided and her breathing began to return to normal. The Doctor was kneeling directly in front of the brunette's chair and gently rubbed her knees in an effort to comfort her, "You understand why we couldn't pursue anything back then?" she asked in hope, "I was already on shaky ground with the Time Lord's as it was".
"You were never one to follow the rules", Sarah Jane replied with a little more bitterness than either of them was expecting.
"True but that wasn't the main reason", the Time Lady continued, "how long has it been since you met me?"
Sarah Jane frowned, "Just over forty years, give or take", she answered.
"For me it's been over thirteen hundred years" The Doctor stated simply and allowed the simple fact of her biology to sink in, "and I'm nowhere near done. It wouldn't have been fair to either of us, living with something like that hanging over us". Sarah Jane knew this deep down but she still needed to remind herself of this fact every now and then. "Think about this Sarah, if you had stayed with me then what would've happened to Luke and Sky".
The former journalist sighed in defeat, The Doctor was right. If she hadn't left the TARDIS all those years ago then it was unlikely that she would've adopted her two children. Those kids meant more to her than anything. Wiping away the last of her tears, Sarah Jane added, "Just, tell me that I meant something to you".
The Doctor slowly stood up and rubbed her hand against Sarah Jane's cheek before pressing a tender kiss against her forehead, "Oh Sarah, you and the rest of my companions mean everything to me". She looked Sarah Jane directly in the eye, keeping her cool hand against her cheek, "Sometimes I think my companions are the sole reason I continue with my travels".
Sarah Jane nodded vigorously, "Thank you Doctor", she said and you could hear the sense of relief in her voice. "Promise me one last thing, you'll keep an eye out for my children", she added.
"Sarah Jane Smith it would be an honour and a pleasure", the Time Lady smiled. At that moment the aforementioned children emerged from the trees and slowly strolled in their direction. The Doctor released her grip on Sarah Jane and slowly backed away to allow her some time with her family, "Goodbye Sarah Jane", she said with a quiet whisper.
"Goodbye Doctor", Sarah Jane replied. Luke and the others arrived at his mother's chair just as the Time Lady was backing away towards her TARDIS. She subtly scanned Sarah Jane with her screwdriver and checked the results. She closed her eyes tightly after viewing the results, there wasn't much time left.
Instead of retreating into the TARDIS, The Doctor sat down against the wall of her machine. Her legs were propped up and her arms rested uncomfortably on top of her knees. She allowed the gentle hum from the TARDIS to comfort her during Sarah Jane's final few hours. The Time lady kept a silent vigil over her former companion, her children and her protégés as they spent their final moments with the woman.
Just as the sun was setting, The Doctor noticed a change in demeanour from the young adults. He observed Rani pressing her fingers against Sarah's neck as Luke held his adopted sister close. With a heavy sigh and feeling of immense pain in her hearts, The Doctor slowly picked herself up off the ground and approached the group. The Doctor looked on numbly as Rani slowly backed away from Sarah Jane. The haunted look on the trainee doctor's face told the Time Lady exactly what she already knew.
The Doctor thought about pushing the chair containing Sarah Jane's body back into the TARDIS but something about that didn't feel right. Instead she bent down and scooped up the brunette in her arms bridal style and carried her back to the ship, "Come along Sarah Jane, what do you say to one final journey?" she whispered quietly in her ear. The Doctor knew she wouldn't get a response but it was comforting to her. She nudged the TARDIS door open and prepared to transport Sarah Jane Smith's body back to her own time for the send off she truly deserved.